My Little Pony: Elements Lost and Found
by ThatOneWriterFromShef
Summary: Three teenagers get sucked into a pink portal that seemingly came out of nowhere during their lunch break from college. At the same time dark times have befallen Equestria. A certain mare in the moon has returned and now Equestria is now drowned in the darkness of the night. Are these two events connected? Possibly. Friends will be made and awesome things will happen. Rated T.
1. Prologue

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 1: Prologue**_

"_The Elements of Harmony are represented by six unique ponies: The Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash, the Element of Honesty, AppleJack, the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie, the Element of Generosity, Rarity and the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. This group are commonly known as "The Mane Six"._

_These six ponies helped keep the peace throughout Equestria and were well respected, especially in their hometown of Ponyville. _

_That was the case up until two weeks ago._

_Somehow, the entity of Nightmare Moon had survived the very first encounter with the Mane Six upon her return she regained possession of Princess Luna and and had Princess Celestia imprisoned. _

_The six ponies immediately made their way to Canterlot to stop Nightmare Moon. But upon their arrival at Celestia's castle, Nightmare Moon fought them. And she won. She then used that opportunity to strike fear and doubt into their hearts then seeing her chance, she brainwashed them. Since then, the six have been making life miserable for the residents of Ponyville and Canterlot._

_The necklaces and tiara themselves? They are currently in the same castle that the six had their first encounter with the Mare in the Moon. But nopony has the bravery like they do. So since Nightmare Moon's takeover, the Elements have been lost and so has hope of returning Harmony._

_However, it is said that three ponies will appear out of seemingly nowhere, and help out the cause of returning Harmony to Equestria, and hopefully, they will succeed and Equestria will once again see the beauty of the light of day."_


	2. The Lunchtime Portal

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 2: The Lunchtime Portal**_

_(? POV)_

"OW! WHY DID I SET THE DIXIE HORN AS MY ALARM TONE?!"

Huh. That was just a dream. A dream containing what seemed to be some sort of slideshow. With a narrator. That sounded oddly like Egoraptor. Weird. It felt so real. Ah well. Another Monday. Time to get up for college.

"**Beep"**

Hm? Message. Hey it's from Pete! What does that bass head want?

_Had one of the weirdest dreams ever. I'll tell you about it when we get to college. :/_

Ha. What a coincidence.

"**Beep"**

Oh. Another message. Hey it's from Danni!

_When we get to college I need to talk to you about this weird slideshow that played in my head last night. x_

Okay that is freaky. Really freaky. I shouldn't dwell on it much. After all we did have a WKD or two last night so it must have been that.

"_Three..."_

What the...My head must be hurting. Oh well. Comes with being half asleep and a tad hungover. Nothing a Paracetamol can't fix!

**An hour and a half later in college**

"Ooooww..."

"You okay Pete?"

"Nah, mate. I had a few too many last night. After we parted ways I went to The Norton and did more boozin'. I can't even listen to my music low without getting a headache."

"You're lucky I have some Paracetamol and water in my bag. Want to take it now?"

"Can I take some afterwards? If there's any left? I'm not as bad as I went straight home last night after we left Pete's."

I think Pete's really eager to be rid of that headache. Don't blame him to be honest.

"Yeah that's if Peter doesn't drink all the water beforehand! Oh well. If he does I can just refill the bottle. Simple as!"

"Don't shout, Lewis! I've only had half the bottle. Here you go Danni."

"And here's the Paracetamol."

"So Pete. Tell me about this dream you had."

"I'll just recount the entire thing to you."

**2 minutes later**

Woah. "That's the same dream that I had!"

"Same here!" Danni too? "Also like 2 minutes after waking up, I heard one word in my head once. And since then I haven't heard it since the-" Holy shit she looks like she's gonna faint. Oh wait never mind. "There it was again!"

"_Three..."_

"The same just happened happened to me as well! What word was it?"

"Elements."

"...Okay."

"I had a word uttered in my head as well."

"You too, Pete?" Pete's serious face. Very rare you get to see that.

"The word was "Lost"."

"Hmmmm. Sentences or phrases that can be made out of these three words. "Three lost elements" or "Three elements lost"."

"Let's just worry about that later shall we?"

_Later, at lunchtime..._

"_Let's get ready to rumble! Let's get ready to rumblllle! Get ready! Get steady! And rumble! Everybody rumble! _I love that song. Ant and Dec need to get back into the music biz. Better than most of the mainstream stuff you hear these days." No seriously it's an awesome song. PJ and Duncan – Let's Get Ready to Rumble. Look it up. Pure 90s awesomeness.

"Hey, guys!" Hm?

"Alright, Adam? Why haven't you been at college?"

"Overslept."

"Really? What were you doing last night?"

"I was finishing coursework, Danni. I'm behind. By a lot."

"They do have catchup sessions after college on most days. Plus you live near here so you don't have that far to walk/bus."

"Yeah but there's only one problem with that, bassface."

"Oh yeah? What's that then?"

"I cannot be arsed!"

"Hm. Makes sense."

"Anyway, I'd better be off to college. Seey-"

Wait a second, why did he pause?

"Adam? Why did you pause?"

"...Behind you." Wat? HOLY SHI-...It's a swirly pink portal. This was...unexpected

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" SHIT

"Danni, no! Hold onnn! Shitshitshitshit it's pulling us both in!"

"Danni! Peter! Both of you hold on to me and don't let go!"

"Let go, Lewis! You're only making this situation worse!"

"Fuck that, Danni! I'm going to pull you two from that portal or DIE TRYING!" I actually have tears in my eyes right now. Wait a minute..."You two! I can see trees on the other side of the portal! Very faint but I'm there's deffo some trees there! Adam! In case we don't make it back, track my family down and tell them that they're a bunch of dysfunctional bastards and I love them!"

"Mine too!"

"And mine!"

"And the college group!"

"Sure guys."

"Come on, Adam. Don't start crying on us. Gah!"

"Wouldn't think of it!"

"On that note...well guys it's time to see what all the fuss is about with this gimp portal!"

I should position myself so that I'm first. There we go! And with a shout, here we go!

"LEEROOOOOOOOYY MMMJJEENKIIIINS!"


	3. Dark World

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 3: Dark World**_

Ugh...ow.

"...Lewis."

Huh?

"Lewis?"

"Uh?"

"LEWIS!"

**(WHACK)**

"ARRRGHHHH! RIGHT IN THE KNACKERS! WHAT THE HELL, PETER?" Wait a minute... "...Why are there there two ponies here? And why do you two sound like my friends?"

Seriously, there's a regular pony with a skin coloured coat and a black mane that looks like Skrillex's hair do. And it looks like he has a bass speaker tattooed onto its arse. There's also a unicorn (WTF) with a long flowing pink and purple mane and an orange coat. It also has what looks like the Kingdom Hearts logo tattooed on the same place as the bass speaker. Well, the Kingdom Hearts logo minus the words "Kingdom Hearts".

"Speak for yourself! You're a Sonic blue pegasus with a wind tattoo! AND you have a light blue and yellow mane!" Hold on...the one with the bass speaker sounds like...

"Peter?"

"Yep. And the unicorn is Danni." Heh.

"The Kingdom Hearts logo, Danni? That makes sense. Wait a minute...A PEGASUS?!"

Pete's right! I have wings!

"WINGS! Oh! Oh! Oh! Lemme try something!"

"Lewis, you've only just gained those wings, it isn't like you'd be able...to...fly?"

Yup, I'm flying. Rather smoothly might I add! Hmmm. I wonder how fast I'm able to go? Shit, something's coming.

"Guys, let's go. This forest is just creepy."

(Danni POV)

Okay. Lewis has just woken up and now he's flying without a problem? Me and Peter have been awake for at least a few hours. Lewis really CAN snore loud! Heh I can't really talk. Not long after I woke up I figured out how to do some awesome magic spells and Peter managed to uproot some trees with just one buck! Oh well. We'll figure this out once we've found civilisation.

**BOOM!**

What the fuck was that?

"Sorry for leaving you behind, guys. I was just trying some flying tricks. I think I've woken some people up with that. I should really learn to know my own strength sometimes. Actually...make that speed."

"Lewis, I managed to uproot some trees with one single buck. I'm the one who should know my own strength."

"...Fuuck. It looked like a giant bowling ball had hit those trees!"

"Doesn't this seem familiar to you guys?" Well SOMEpony had to say it!

"Actually yeah it kinda does!...Hooolyyy shiiit." We're in My Little fucking Pony!"

"What?! That's why I this seemed familiar when I first woke up?"

"Peter, you're a brony, too? Huh. Didn't expect that!"

"Hey, so am I!" Actually, I'm a pegasister, as I'm a girl. Didn't expect Peter to be a brony though. Nor Lewis.

"Anyway, you two. Let's find the nearest point of civilisation."

(Normal POV)

The three are now walking (actually Lewis is flying at a regular speed) towards Manehatten. All is silent between the three. All until Lewis speaks up.

"You two don't think this has anything to do with our shared dream and our respective words, do you?"

This causes Danni to think back to what the dream actually said.

"___it is said that three ponies will appear out of seemingly nowhere, and help out the cause of returning Harmony to Equestria, and hopefully, they will succeed and Equestria will once again see the beauty of the light of day."_

_She then turns to Lewis. "It's possible. I mean it said three ponies would seemingly appear out of nowhere. But the question is, though. Why us? What's special that all three of us have that any other person in our world hasn't?"_

_Suddenly, Peter's green eyes widen and he stops abruply. "Holy shit. This city looks abandoned!"_

_Lewis snaps his head towards the city and his brown eyes widen as well._

_(BGM: Shadow The Hedgehog – GUN Fortress)_

_"Well now. This...was...unexpected."_

_It's true. There is nopony on the street. There are no lights on in any of the buildings. Well not any that Lewis, Peter or Danni can see._

Lewis is the first to speak up after arriving. "Wow. This reminds me of the first level of Shadow The Hedgehog. The only things missing are the overturned cars, the bigass aliens and fires!...No wait I see one fire over there. Never mind."

"What do we do now?" Peter asks the two.

Danni's face turns to one of confusion. "What do you mean?"

Peter turns to Danni and replies "Well we've arrived in what we thought to be a point in civilisation but it looks abandoned. So that brings me to my first question: what do we do now?"

"Wait, guys. I see somepony in that alley over there." Lewis then flies towards the alleyway with his new speed to hopefully see why everything looks abandoned. "Hello? Anypony there? Don't worry I don't bite! Please?" He then sees a hatch open from the ground and a red pony with a blond mane peek their head out.

"Eeeeyup. Come on down here. We have room."

"Thanks...sorry I don't know what your name is."

The big red pony gives a nod in understanding. "Name's Big Macintosh."

"Okay. I have friends. Lemme just go get them. Be right back." Big Mac just nods.

**(Back with Peter and Danni)**

Danni says to Peter "I wonder if Lewis has found whoever that was yet?"

Peter turns to Danni "He probably has."

"Guys!"

Lewis rushes back to the two. "I found ponies over here. Ol' Big Macintosh is down in a hatch and it looks like living space down there. He's letting us stay in there temporarily."

"I think the names we have now won't fit in here." Peter ponders. "Think I'll call myself...Treble Bass"

"Well then. I've got a name for myself." Lewis replies. "Call me Swift Wind. Makes sense as I'm fast."

Danni just shrugs then says to the two "Well then. Call me Heart Container."

"Not bad!" Lewis (Or Swift Wind) compliments the new name.

After a long, awkward pause, Swift Wind just breaks the silence. "Shall we go?"

"Yes, let's"


	4. Making friends and one CHEESY speech

Elements Lost and Found

Chapter 4: Making friends and the plan

After making their new names, the three make there way towards the alleyway where the hatch was.

Swift carefully walks up to the hatch then awkwardly knocks on the top of the hatch. Immediately, Big Mac shoots out of the hatch, making way for the three to carefully go down...

"Where's the ladder?"

...only for them to fall down there face first. With Swift first. In front of everypony else in the place.

"Ow. My fresh, blue pony face. No offence can you both get off my back please? I'm not calling either of you fat but I do actually use my lungs to breath. And that's what I would like to do now. Breath. Please?" Swift painfully whines to theearth pony and the unicorn that are currently piled on top of him.

Heart just smirks playfully at him. "I'm gonna need some motivation to do so!"

Swift then rolls his eyes and painfully pleads back with his voice straining. "I'll buy you a bag of chips after all this is over. Okay?"

Mulling it over, Heart chuckles and gives in. "Okay. I was only joking by the way but now that you say that I'll hold you to your word!"

She then hops off Bass and Swift. Swift has some weight lifted off but Bass is still there, possibly unconscious.

"Come on, Bass. You too ya fat arse...Bass?...Fuck. Can somebody get pony off of me? I'm losing the ability to breath as we speak."

Big Macintosh chuckles at this then helps lift Bass off of Swift's back, trying not to break any of Swift's bones in the process. Just then, Swift chimes in.

"Mac, if you're trying not break any bones, then you're too late, I think that tumble broke my front right leg...no wait. Never mind it was just numb. Why is it always the one on the right?"

After lifting Bass up and into a spare bedroom, Big Mac shows Swift and Heart around the place.

"Nice place you guys have set up! How long has it been since..._it _happened and this all started?"

Big Macintosh then displays a sad look on his face and sighs. "Two weeks. Two weeks since mah sis and her pals went all dark on us. Ah remember the first time I saw her like that. Although ah try mah very best not too."

Swift and Heart see the upset on Big Mac's face. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, Mac. I'll just leave it and go to bed. I think Bass had the right idea going to sleep like he did. Conking out. Where's the bed I'll be sleeping in?"

"This way. Most of us in here were asleep anyway. Your landing woke a few ponies up but it look like they've gone back to sleep. Aaand here we are."

"Aahhhh, comfy bed! I slept on the ground last time. This is a huge relief." And after that, Swift is straight away out like a light. Snoring his long nose off.

Heart sighs in annoyance. "Well, here comes the challenge of sleeping through his snoring again!" Getting into the other bed, Heart eventually drops off to sleep, snoring softly.

(8 hours later)

(Swift POV)

Aaaah, that was a refreshing sleep. Better than waking up in a big forest full of batshit mental that can potentially bite your head off. Wait a minute...I smell...apple pie!

"MEEEOOOOWWWLLLL!"

"ARRRRGGHHHHHH!"

(Heart POV)

Aaah. That sleep was definitely better than the last one. Although that last sleep was actually unconsciousness.

"MEEEOOOOWWWLLLL!"

"ARRRRGGHHHHHH!"

Woah is Swift getting attacked by a cat? Normally it's Bass.

(Bass POV)

Ow. What hit my head last night? …...Oh, yeah. The floor. That's twice in a row I've woken up from being unconscious.

"MEEEOOOOWWWLLLL!"

"ARRRRGGHHHHHH!"

Lol. Swift's getting owned by a cat. And I'm not gonna do anything about it. Payback motherfucker.

(5 minutes later)

(Normal POV)

Everypony is now eating their breakfasts. It may be dark but that doesn't mean it isn't morning. Well...I say everypony.

"Who's cat is this?" Heart then walks in holding a cat with her magic. This cat was white, wore a bow on its head, and a collar with gems on it.

"OPAL! BAD CAT! Did she attack somebody?" A small white unicorn filly asks while apologising.

"Let me give you a hint. Blue, has wings and it's me." Swift flatly states before walking into the dining room with scratches on his face. "These scratches really do smart."

At that point Bass walks out of his bedroom, sees Swift, and starts rolling on the floor laughing.

This causes Swift to just roll his eyes and kick Bass – yep, you guessed it – in the balls, causing Bass to cry out in pain.

Swift just smirks and retorts with "Now we're even! What's for breakfast? Is that apple pie I smell?"

Big Macintosh walks out of the kitchen with a tray full of apple products. "Eeeyup. Luckily it was Applebuck season before all this stuff happened. So ah managed to get enough apples to last us a few months. Unfortunately ah didn't count on so many ponies living in the same hatch as us. We're runnin' low on apples and ah don't know how we're gonna go on much longer without any food. From what ah'v heard, Applejack is living by her lonesome at Sweet Apple Acres. And from what ah'v seen, she don't look like she's gonna give any of 'em up anytime soon. Anyway, ladies and gentlecolts, dig in!"

And at this, everyone promply does so.

(5 minutes later)

(Swift POV)

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – Jet-Black Land)

Hm. That was a good apple pie! Too bad that if something isn't done they could run out of apples and could starve.

Something needs doing. And me, Bass and Heart seem like the only ones who actually have the gall to do it. The question is: CAN we do it? CAN we get the Elements? I mean I may have speed that can possibly match Rainbow Dash, Bass may have strength that can uproot trees like fucking bowling pins and Heart may have the magic abilities to match Twilight Sparkle, but I still wonder if we can do this. The Elements are in Castle Eclipse! Which is next to Ponyville! Which is inhabited by the corrupted Mane Six! If this ain't gonna be a suicide mission, I don't know what is.

(Normal POV)

Big Mac turns to the three. "So lemme introduce yall to everypony in here."

He points his hoof down the table and introduces everyone who sits at the table in order.

"That's there's Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Scootaloo, Spike, Cheerilee, Derpy and Celestia and Luna's niece, Princess Cadance."

This makes Swift, Bass and Heart gasp in shock and bow their heads in respect. This causes Cadance to chuckle.

"That isn't needed, you three. Formalities isn't really my thing."

The three then stop their bowing and Swift breaks the ice.

"Well we just thought we ought to. Otherwise if you were one for formalities and we didn't bow, I just didn't want to risk a royal voice giving me tinnitus in these fresh pony ears. That's the last thing I need while possibly fighting dark horses with wings (Bass: "You have wings."). Constant ringing in my ears."

Cadance giggles at Swifts bluntness. "Well you don't have to worry about the royal voice. I haven't got mine yet. Though when this is over I will have to try and get it." (A/N I have no idea how a royal voice is retrieved among pony royalty so I'm just going with this.)

"Well I just want to see light in this world again. That's why me, Bass and Heart are going to try and retrieve the Elements from Castle Eclipse tomorrow."

This causes the rest of the ponies in the room to spit out their drinks in shock.

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron - Determination)

Princess Cadance is the first to speak up. "Are you sure you're up to the task? I mean, what if you get caught? Shining Armour, who is my fiance and Twilight Sparkle's brother attempted to do this 3 days after all this started. I started to get worried and set out to search for him myself. When I arrived in Ponyville I saw a notice up on the library noticeboard. It said "Captain Shining Armour has been arrested and sent to the dungeons for high treason. Venturing through the Everfree Forest and trying to reach Castle Eclipse is against Queen Nightmare Moon's laws. Anyone else who thinks it's a good idea to do the same. Don't say I didn't warn you. Signed – Rainbow Dash...the best flyer in all of Equestria." It made me lose all hope of us ever getting out of this dark mess."

All of a sudden, Swift's expression suddenly had a look of determination mixed with a smirk. "I'm not about to let some threat get to me. Besides, I have my best friends with me. I'll be honest, I sometimes get scared about stuff. And yes, I sometimes let things get to me. But part of what has made me stay strong in this situation is that Treble Bass here..." He points to Bass. "...and Heart Container..." he points to the orange unicorn "...have been there with me. Sure me and Bass may cause physical pain to each other..."

(FLASHBACK TO YESTERDAY)

_"LEWIS!"_

**__****(WHACK)**

_"ARRRGHHHH! RIGHT IN THE KNACKERS! WHAT THE HELL, PETER?"_

(TIMESKIP TO 10 MINUTES AGO)

_At that point Bass walks out of his bedroom, sees Swift, and starts rolling on the floor laughing._

_This causes Swift to just roll his eyes and kick Bass – yep, you guessed it – in the balls, causing Bass to cry out in pain._

(END FLASHBACK SEQUENCE)

"...it may take some bribing for Heart to actually do as I kindly request. Even saying please..."

(NEW FLASHBACK)

"_Ow. My fresh, blue pony face. No offence can you both get off my back please? I'm not calling either of you fat but I do actually use my lungs to breath. And that's what I would like to do now. Breath. Please?" Swift painfully whines to theearth pony and the unicorn that are currently piled on top of him._

_Heart just smirks playfully at him. "I'm gonna need some motivation to do so!"_

_Swift then rolls his eyes and painfully pleads back with his voice straining. "I'll buy you a bag of chips after all this is over. Okay?"_

_Mulling it over, Heart chuckles and gives in. "Okay. I was only joking by the way but now that you say that I'll hold you to your word!"_

(END FLASHBACK SEQUENCE)

"...but that's just our ways of showing that ….well, we work well as a team. And as friends. Because that's what we are. Friends. The three of us might be a tad mental or just seem suitable for a mental asylum at times but, that's just a part of who we are. And I'm not about to change that. Ever. So tomorrow, we will pull of any insane stunt possible or necessary to get the Elements from that horror movie-esque castle in those woods. And we will get those six ponies back into the right state of mind and back to the regular, cheerful ponies they were before." Swift takes a deep breath before continuing. "And let me tell you this! I have not made a cheesy speech like that since I was little and on the playground pretending to be a knight!...Holy crap did I just say all that?"

"Yes ya did you cheesy mental!" Swift hears Bass say from his left.

"But do you really mean all that? That you wouldn't change anything about how us three are? Even if we are crazy at times?" Heart asks.

"Eeeeyup! Fuck that was cheesier than a five cheese pizza with that strong powdered cheese on top of it." At that point a pure white aura covers Swift, causing him to fall off his chair. 10 seconds later, the aura stops. And everypony in the room looks on in confusion about what just happened.

10 more seconds later Heart just asks "What kind of special effect was that?" Only to be answered by Bass with "Definitely not a Michael Bay special effect."


	5. Comfort and Loyalty

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 5: Comfort and loyalty**_

(Later that evening)

Everybody has just finished their supper and are now just socialising. Except for Heart who is deep in thought about what happened earlier.

"_I wonder what that white light was about? And I think I saw his eyes go white as well! Arrgh it's going to be bugging me all night now. Wish something would happen where I could forget about it for tonight. I won't be able to sleep other wise."_

Just then, she hears some soft crying from a room down the hall. Feeling that this would help take her mind off earlier's light show, she goes to investigate. Upon arriving at the room, she sees who it is. It's Spike.

"_From what I remember, he's only a baby dragon. I'll go see what's up and hopefully cheer him up. I hate seeing kids upset. Even if the kid is a dragon."_

"Spike? You okay?"

Spike turns around and sees Heart at his bedroom door. "Yeah. (sniff) I'm just fine."

Heart just stands there, not at all convinced. "No you're not. I can always tell when somepony's scared or upset. And how scared or upset they are. And I talk with them about it. I ask them why. They tell me the whole story and reason why. I do my best to help them feel better. And 99% of the time they cheer up. And as long as they're happy, then I'm happy. Because then I know that I've helped somepony feel better than me." She walks up to the bed and puts a hoof on Spike's shoulder in an attempted to comfort him. "Now come on, speak up. I'm not leaving until you do."

Realising that Heart won't back down, Spike simply gives up and talks. "Your friend's whole speech on friendship earlier. It reminded me of my friends, especially Twilight. She always helped them stay together. Whenever there were fights between them, Twilight did whatever she could to keep their friendship going. And it always worked. Because their bond is unlike any other friendship bond I've ever seen before. And when I saw that they'd been brainwashed and corrupted by Nightmare Moon, I broke down. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Before that happened, I was convinced that nothing could ever get between them. I was stood so frozen and unmoving I didn't even come to Manehatten kicking and screaming. Big Mac just came rushing into the library, grabbed me by the tail and ran straight outta Ponyville after dropping me into the same trailer as the CMC, who were also sat there with blank and confused looks on their faces. The ride here was very silent. That was two weeks ago." At this point Spike is tearing up again. "Two weeks since I've seen them together and happy like that! It may not sound that long but the time it's been has really dragged! It feels like months! And Twi. She was like a mother to me. She was the first I saw when I hatched. And she hatched me herself! It was her magic! And I've been with her all my life. She raised me."

There is a long pause...actually it's just 5 seconds. Heart breaks the silence.

"I'll be honest. That was a bit more than I expected. But it's good that you finally let it all out. Do you feel slightly better?"

"A lot better. Heart?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you. You and your friends. For trying to get our friends and family back. And y'know? I can see why you're called Heart Container. You have one of the biggest hearts of all the ponies I've met. And the ponies I know have really big hearts. I was feeling down but you came in here and cheered me up by getting me to talk. I don't know you that well. And already you're someone I can call a good friend."

He hugs Heart tightly.

"Thank you."

...And then lets go.

"It's okay Spike. Just get some rest."

"I will. Your friends are lucky to have you as their friend."

Heart slowly closes Spike's bedroom door. Touched by Spike's kind words, she sheds a few tears. Deciding her next destination, she heads towards the main room. On her way, she spots something surprising. Bass's laptop had survived the trip through the portal and currently Bass and Swift are chilling and watching Taken 2. It's near the end of the movie and Liam Neeson is in his last confrontation.

Sighing, she walks into the room and closes the door, deciding to watch the end of the movie.

When it finishes, Heart is the first to speak up. "I was talking to Spike earlier. He was really upset because of Twilight and the rest of the six."

Swift's expression turns to one of sorrow. "I can imagine. Twilight was like a mother to Spike. She hatched him with his magic. And since then she's raised Spike. And Spike's a good kid. She raised him well. Them two were close. And now look what's happened."

Hearts nods and replies. "He said that when Swift was talking about how close we were that it reminded him of Twilight and her closeness with the others."

"You forced him to talk and he felt better. True?" Bass says while smirking.

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – If You Were Here)

Heart dons a similar smirk. "True. But you know it works. You both know it. I've had to cheer you both up after feeling down. I'm not going to mention the situations but you should still remember."

Swift and Bass's expressions both turn to a look of remembrance and they both shed a tear each.

"Yeah." Swift says with a genuine smile. "I remember."

"Yeah." Bass adds. "So do I."

Heart then continues. "I can tell you two are scared as well. But that's okay. It's normal to be scared. Oh and of all people for me to be sent here with, I'm glad it's you two. You two are like brothers to me. That's no lie. Just don't keep bottling your emotions. I hate seeing that." Just then, the same aura that covered Swift earlier covers Heart.

"What the..." It disappears after 10 seconds, the same as Swift.

Bass pouts childishly after that thinking _"Awww, I want my aura."_

Swift looks at the time, which is 9pm.

"Guys, I think I'm going to go stretch my wings and get some fresh air."

Bass looks at him in shock. "Are you insane? What if you get caught by the Nightmare's barmy army or something?"

"Bass, don't worry. I'll be fine. Both of you. I'll be fine. But I've got my phone with me. It also survived the trip. Surprisingly I still get signal! I'll call Heart's phone if anything goes wrong. I'll only be 10 minutes."

He closes the bedroom door. Danni speaks up, saying "It only takes 10 minutes for something to go wrong. But I trust him. He doesn't take too many risks.

-Outside-

(Swift POV)

Wow does it feel good to get some wind beneath your wings! Wow. This place _does_ look kinda deserted. Hm. Hey, is that Vinyl Scratch coming out of another hatch? Heh. That rhymed. I just hope she's careful, though who knows what could happen? Hmm, wonder what's going on at the other side of Manehatten?

-1 minute later-

It looks a little more active here. I can hear music. Wow. Guess these guys don't give a shit.

(WOOSH)

What the fuck was that? …...phew. Never mind that was just my imaginatio-

…

….

Oh shit.

Hovering in front of me.

It's her.

It's Rainbow Dash.

And she looks pissed.

-5 minutes later-

Bass and Heart are sat watching the first Pokemon movie on Bass's laptop. But suddenly...

_I believe I can fly_

_I believe I can touch the sky_

It's Heart's phone.

"Oh, no. What happened?" _beep___"Swift? What happened? Are you okay? Hang on I'll put it on speaker."

"_Take it to the main room and gather everypony there."_

This takes Bass and Heart by surprise. But they nod to each other and run for the main room.

"Everypony! I think Swift's in a bit of trouble."

(BGM: BlazBlue Calamity Trigger – Thin RED Line)

Within a minute, everypony including Cadance and Spike is in the main room gathered around the table where Heart's phone lies in the centre with speaker on.

"_Okay, if everypony's present, I'll explain. I was taking a little stretch of my wings when who better to spot me and start chasing me around the shop for "breaking a curfew" than "Lady Loyalty" Rainbow Dash!"_

This causes everypony to gasp in shock.

"_And not only that, it sppears she's had a bit of a makeover since she's was brainwashed. Whereas before she was cyan with a rainbow mane, she is now dark blue with a purple mane. How do I know it's definitely her? The cutie mark has stayed exactly the same."_

Spike speaks up. "Where did she chase you?"

"_Funny thing about that. She chased me right into the Everfree Forest! Specifically the mountain part. I'm really having a whale of a wing stretch. Especially as if she catches me, she'll stretch my wings off for -paraphrasing Rainbow Dash "making her work hard to catch me.""_

"The mountain region...Swift, this is Princess Cadance! Lead Rainbow Dash away from the mountains! There's a huge dragon sleeping inside one of them and he's close to waking up from his 1000 year sleep!"

This makes everypony gasp in shock...again. Including Swift.

"_Yeah, that's really settling to know, thanks for that! Okay let's see I have Rainbow Dash after me and a centaur dragon about to awaken. Next you'll be telling me that he's the king of the dragons!"_

…

…

"_Tell me he's not the king of the dragons, Cadance."_

"I can't."

"_Why not?"_

"Because he _is _the king of the dragons."

…

…

"_Eeeyup. I'm screwed."_

"Don't panic! Heart and Bass will be there soon! And I'm coming with them!"

"WHAT?!"

"I'm the only one here who can perform the teleportation spell, and while I'm not as powerful as Aunts Celestia and Luna, I can still watch my own back. Besides, while Heart Container, Treble Bass and Swift Wind may be able to work as a team, they still need somepony to watch over them. And I'm not letting anyone else get sent into the dungeons like they did to my husband. While only him, another unicorn and an earth pony are ones who got caught, who knows what Nightmare Moon's guards do to them while down there. While Aunt Celestia's gone, I'm the only active Princess in the right state of mind. She said that should something happen to her and Aunt Luna, she entrusts me with rule. I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and I decree that myself, Treble Bass and Heart Container will venture to the Everfree Forest and assist Swift Wind!"

…

…

…

"_Thanks for that. Anything else I should know about Rainbow Dash, should a fight happen?"_

Big Macintosh speaks up "She's a black belt. I think that's one of the only things that Nightare Moon left in her mind. That and her hot-headedness."

There's no reply for 5 seconds, but then they here crying from the other side of the line.

"_Oh, God I'm screwed!"_

"Get a hold of yourself, subject!"

"_(Sniff) yes ma'am!"_

She turns to Bass and Heart "You two. Let's go." She turns to Big Mac. "You're in charge here from now on. Look after these ponies..." "Hey!" "...and Spike."

Big Mac nods in response "With mah whole being."

And with that, Cadance, Heart and Bass disappear.

-5 minutes later-

Cadance, Bass and Heart are wandering the Forest when they here what sounds like a scuffle. They look to the direction it's coming from and they see Swift getting pinned down by Rainbow Dash. They both look a bit battered and bruised.. Wait Swift managed to get some hits in? I'm the narrator and even _I_ find that slightly shocking!

"Alright tough guy. You fought okay but now that I got you right where I wanted you,I can take you in to Queen Moon!"

Just then, two magic attack spells come shooting out of nowhere and knock Dash off of Swift, allowing him to get back up. "Bass! Heart! Princess Cadance!"

He then turns to Dash. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash. But me and my friends? We're too focused on getting this world back to normal to get captured by a once-good pony."

This line causes something odd to happen. This makes Rainbow Dash to step back with a look of thought. _"Friends? Once good pony?"_

Swift, Bass, Cadance and Heart see that these words are doing something to Dash.

"_Something's working! Maybe. Just maybe..."_

(BGM: Pokemon – Tears After the Cloudy Weather.

Swift's look of determination returned again. "What happened to you? You used to be cool. You had friends! GOOD friends! How could you let Nightmare Moon do this to you? What about your dream to join the Wonderbolts? The Sonic Rainboom! Your signature trick that got you your cutie mark when you stood up for Fluttershy, your friends' cutie marks, and a day with the Wonderbolts themselves? You even have a little admirer! Scootaloo! You wanna know what her dream was? It was her dream to be like you. She looks up to you. She even wanted to be your little sister! What happened, Rainbow Dash?! Tell us what the fuck happened!"

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash looks like she's having some sort of headache, when in fact, all her good memories are returning to her. All the good times, the awesome times. Her most precious memories are returning to her. And her most recent memory before this ordeal began (Episode: The Cutie Mark Chronicles).

Suddenly she begins to return to her original colours, the Cyan fur coat and the rainbow mane. After this she collapses on the ground, sobbing into her hooves and repeating over and over again "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" As if to add effect, it starts raining.

Seeing her heavy regret and guilt, Swift's expression quickly softens and flies over to comfort Rainbow Dash. "Hey."

She looks up to see Swift with a neutral look on his face. "You okay?"

She has a confused look on her face. "What? I made a lot of people miserable for nearly three weeks, and chase you into the Everfree Forest and you're asking if I'm okay?"

Swift raises an eyebrow at this and just casually replies with "Pretty much yeah. Though to be fair I did fight back. And yes I was slightly scared when you chased me here."

"He was shitting himself!"

"Yes, thank you, Bass (!)"

Rainbow Dash giggles at this. That cheers Swift up greatly.

"There we go! A smile! Come on, Dash we need to get out of this place. There's meant to be some sort of dragon king awakening from his 1000 year sleep soon. Also is it true that the average pony lives up to 250-300 years?"

"Uhhh yeah. My friend Applejack's Granny Smith is at least around 240 years old! Why do you ask?"

"Because I thought Granny Smith was joking."

"You two!"

Swift and Dash turn round to face Cadance. "I might be able to teleport you four to Castle Eclipse. Once your there, quickly grab the Elements and get out of there. I'll be waiting down here and then we can get back to Manehatten."

"Hang on. Me and Rainbow Dash are still hurt."

"Lemme fix that."

Princess Cadance's horn lights up. Then so do Swift and Dash. And after 10 seconds, any sign of the both of them fighting is completely gone.

"Okay then you four, get ready to grab and run."

Then Swift, Heart, Bass and Dash. Disappear with a lighting of Cadance's horn.

-Chapter End-

Phew! That was a long one to write. Also, at two points in writing this chapter I had tears coming out. One time was for Spike because he had lost his mother figure and the other was for Rainbow Dash because her awesome self had come to realise what she had done under the control of Nightmare Moon. That's what caused her to start crying. Something that Rainbow Dash is not known for. So I apologise if she was slightly OOC. But that will be fixed in later chapters.

SkittleGamer9, OUT!


	6. Race, Bees and the dream

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 6: Race, Bees and the dream**_

(BGM: Super Smash Bros Brawl – Step: Subspace)

The four appear just outside the castle. It looks more or less the same as when the mane six came through the first time.

The four just stand there in awe at the castle. The first to speak up is Swift.

"I was only going out for a 10 minute stretch of the wings. Ah well. Let's just grab the Elements then leg it."

"I think I remember where the Elements are kept. Or _were _kept. Uh, I don't know if they're there anymore." Rainbow Dash mentions.

"Well can you show us where they were on the offchance that they _are_ there?" Bass asks.

"Sure, follow me."

-5 minutes later-

The four enter a room which is being lit up by a bright glow.

"Well this is the place. Woah, that's bright!" Rainbow Dash exclaims while holding her hooves in front of her face to shield her eyes.

"Wait, aren't those the Elements there?" Bass asks while pointing to the glow. Sure enough, it was all six Elements with the cutie marks of the ponies that represented them.

Rainbow Dash and Swift both don big happy grins on their faces and quickly grab the Elements as fast as their bodies can carry them. In the end they grab three Elements each. Rainbow Dash puts on her own Element to keep it safe.

"Weeell, that was anti-climactic. Let's get out of here."

-5 minutes later-

The four ponies are running back towards the direction of where Princess Cadance is waiting for them to get back.

"Glad these aren't that heavy." Bass states. "Swift, why do you have one of them on?"

"Because it's blue. (He has Pinkie Pie's Element around his neck) It might not be the same blue as me but it's still blue."

Rainbow Dash laughs at this. "Yeah because that's a totally legit reason to wear the Element of Laughter around your neck."

Swift pouts at this and points to Bass "Bass has Generosity and Honesty on his two front legs!" He said this in a childish manner. "Which is weird, since Generosity and Honesty are two things he actually lacks. Maybe having the Elements on might be good for him!"

"And maybe having Laughter on might make your jokes funny."

"Oh ha ha (!)"

"Hey, Swift. I wanna see how fast you can go. Let's have a race to where Princess Cadance is."

Swift looks to heart and Bass, who nod. Swift then dons a competitive smirk. "Okay then. Let's do this."

(BGM: Sonic Adventure 2 – Won't Stop, Just Go!)

Heart steps in to count down. "Ready..."

They ready their wings.

"...get set...GO!"

They shoot off leaving a huge cloud of dust behind, Heart and Bass both choking on it.

"...Well...that...was...unexpected."

(With Swift and Dash)

They're both flying at fast speeds and are both able to keep up with each other rather well. Swift manages to pull ahead with a small grunt but Rainbow Dash is having non of that. She manages to catch up and pull further ahead than Swift, who responds with a sad "Aw." But then he sees "TREES!" Rainbow Dash finishes gloating about her lead, looks ahead and indeed sees trees and just manages to avoid them, albeit clumsily. Swift. He isn't so lucky. He flies over the trees...but is unfortunately attacked and stung by bees.

-1 minute later-

Dash is flying close to top speeds when she looks back and sees Swift catching up to her. He shouts over to her.

"If you've ever been stung by a bee before, just multiply the pain factor by 100. And then you'll know how pain I'm in. I officially SMART right now! I may be quick but I need to learn how to change direction more quickly! I though I had all this sussed out!"

Dash at this point tries her best to hold back laughter because otherwise she'll end up losing focus and losing the race overall.

"We're coming to the home stretch! You really want to do this? We can save a lot of pain and tears if you just quit now and admit that I'm faster than you, Swift!"

"Well in the case of pain it's a bit too late for that! It wouldn't be as painful as the bees and watching you cry earlier! So my answer..."

(BGM: Sonic Colours – Terminal Velocity Act 1)

"...is that I'm VERY sure!"

Rainbow Dash was taken aback by the answer in a _'Is he crazy'_ kind of way, but shakes her head and responds with "Okay then! It's your funeral!"

At this point, neither of them are holding back with their speed. They're both neck and neck. Seeing that neither are slowing down, they both pick up their speeds even more. That's when Rainbow Dash notices a certain cone of air forming around her.

"Aw yeah! Now THIS is where it gets interesting!"

"Aw crap. I'm gonna lose Oh well. Fair play. I never expected to win against the...best...flyer..in...Equestria...WHAT THE HAY?!"

The reason for this sudden outburst is because he notices something unexpected. This causes him to go into a slight panic.

Dash: "DUDE ,DON'T PANIC!"

Swift: "WHY, WHAT HAPPENS IF I DO?!"

Dash: "YOU GET CATAPULTED BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM! JUST RELAX AND FOCUS!"

Swift: "HOW?!"

Dash: "JUST TRUST ME AND DO IT!"

Swift takes a massive gulp and focuses with all of his might...well whatever might he has anyway. Deep down he's just a big softy. :3

They both feel the forces of the air pushing them back but neither give in. They both push further and further forward...until...

BOOM

BOOM

They both shoot forward after breaking the sound barrier. Dash looks back and feels proud of the Sonic Rainboom she just created. She then sees another wave similar to her own. It is a mixture of Swift's own colour scheme. Dark blue like his fur, and cyan and yellow like his mane. It's when she follows the trail she notices something. The trail is heading downwards. She then sees Swift himself slowly heading downwards. His eyes are closed. It then dawns upon her.

Swift is unconscious.

And heading straight over a nearby cliff.

(Swift POV)

Ugh...wha...what happened? This place is so familiar. Wait...this place...

"It's my living room!"

"You're half right, young colt."

"Huh?"

No way...that...it can't be!

"Princess Luna? But how?"

(BGM: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 – Time Gear)

"I myself...I did not foresee Nightmare Moon's return. I thought the Elements would have banished her being for good. Sadly...that was not the case."

"Do you know how I just blanked out like that? All I seem to remember is getting stung by bees and a sudden burst of speed. That's about it really. Am I dead?"

"Simple. Exhaustion. And the bees. They have the power to knock somepony out for a few minutes. Unfortunately that the case of only one bee. And gladly, no you aren't dead. Fortunately a certain somepony had a favour to return." Rainbow Dash...

"Wait, you said that was only the case of one bee. What do you mean by that?"

"How many bees were you stung by, Swift?"

"Er, I dunno. 10? 20? No idea, sorry. Although I do remember ploughing through about 10 whole nests. I couldn't count the actual bees though I was absolutely swarmed by the things. (Ba Dum Tssh) It was like The Wicker Man."

"By my estimates you probably be unconscious for at least 12 hours."

Well...I've slept longer than that before.

"Well...how are you able to talk to me when you're meant to be …... well... y'know... taken over by Nightmare Moon? Not that I'm complaining. Seeing you in your normal form is actually a really big relief. Sorry if I offended you by the way. I'm absolutely rubbish with words." Oh good she's smiling.

"Well, your earlier choice of words certainly helped get an old friend out of being brainwashed so you can't be that bad."

"Well at that time I was in some sort of adrenaline rush after being chased into the Everfree Forest."

"Well in any case. I'll let you wake up and get back to your friends. And also...let me just say this for you, Bass and Heart...welcome back."

"Oh, thanks, Luna...wait. WHAT DO YOU ME-"(poof)

(Normal POV)

Swift is in his bed back at the place where him, Bass and Swift were staying. Around the bed are chairs where Bass and Heart sat. Heart is sat asleep while Bass is sat on his laptop working on something in Fruity Loops while listening to some Skrillex.

At that point Swift begins to stir. He starts mumbling at first but then he starts waking up properly.

Bass notices this, stops working on his laptop and starts shaking Heart. "Heart, wake up. He's waking up!"

Heart wakes up just in time to see Swift wake up as well. His eyes flutter open and he lets out a big belch, one that would make Barney from The Simpsons proud.

"Oof...are we...back at HQ? I've just had the weirdest dream. And it felt real. Again."

"Lemme guess. Princess Luna?" Bass says with a smirk.

Swift glares in response. "You know, that has got to stop happening!"

Heart's look turns to one of concern. "Do you know how it happened? I mean going unconscious."

"Yeah. Exhaustion and loads of tranquilliser bees. How long has it been since I went out?"

"Well me and Bass saw this blue and yellow wave similar to a Sonic Rainboom which we assumed it was you, which would probably explain the exhaustion bit, so it would have been 12 hours ago."

"How do you know it was 12 hours?"

"Bass took a quick video of the wave with his phone and when he started the time said eleven O'clock then and according to his laptop it's 11 in the morning now."

"Oh, fair enough. Best let everypony know I'm up then."

-1 minute later-

Everybody is having their breakfasts when Swift, Heart and Bass walk in, Bass with his headphones in and listening to Never Gonna Give You Up for some reason.

Big Macintosh speaks up first. "So you're finally awake huh? Ah thought you weren't gonna wake up for at least a while longer."

"To be honest, Big Mac, neither did I. I had this weird dream, though. I'll tell you about it some other time when my head's stopped aching."

Princess Cadance then speaks up. "I helped get rid of visible evidence of bee stings. Though I have to admit, Swift, you're kinda crazy." She lets out a small chuckle after that last part.

"Meh, I've been told that quite a few times. Though I do prefer the term "mentally hilarious" crazy does just fine as well."

This gets a few laughs out of everyone in the room. Swift then notices someone missing. "Um, just to check, we did come back with-"

"-Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo finished. "Yeah she came back with you. In fact when Cadance found out she couldn't teleport you guys all the way back here from the Everfree Forest, she carried you the rest of the way back."

This makes Swift feel bad and slightly guilty. "...How far?"

"Well the most Cadance could teleport you guys to was the outskirts of Ponyville. She carried you from there."

Big Mac took it from there. "In fact, when we opened the hatch to see Rainbow Dash standing there and back to normal we were pretty shocked and surprised to see her. Some o' us were even pretty scared. Even more so when we saw you unconscious next ta her. But Heart, Cadance and Bass vouched for her and before we knew it we were welcoming her back with open hugs."

Swift chuckles slightly at this. "I bet Scootaloo tackled her to the ground when she realised RD was safe. Am I right, Scoots?"

"You know it, Windy!"

This new nickname shocks Swift and makes blush slightly. This also gets a big laugh out of everyone in the room.

"Did not expect that."

After laughing, Big Mac calms himself down and continues. "Anyway, after getting tackled to the floor by Scootaloo, she ended up falling asleep right there and then. She must have been real tired after carrying you all that way."

Bass then speaks up for the first time. "Well I offered to carry him home instead as I've got enough strength to knock trees down like bowling pins..." "He actually has, you should have seen it." "...but Rainbow Dash insisted that she carry you all the way here."

Swift takes this all in with a shocked look on his face. "Now I feel like utter trash. Where's the room she's staying in?"

"First room on the left."

"Thanks, Big Mac. I'm gonna go-"

"MEEOOOOOWWWWLLLL!"

"NOT AGAAAIIIINN!"


	7. The Good, the Bad, and the Honest

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 7: The Good, the Bad and the Honest**_

Brace yourselves, folks! Things get a little bit intense here!

So where did we leave off last time? Oh, yeah. Swift getting attacked by Opal... again.

"Ow. Ow. Sweetie Belle can you please keep Opal under control, please? This is twice this has happened. Though the first time was me waking up with Opal on the attack stance."

"Sorry, Swift. I think she's just as nervous as us about my sister."

Swift's expression softens with this. "Yeah, cats can get like this. Though this is the most psychotic case of it I've ever experienced." _'Come to think of it, I've seen how angry that cat can get on the show. But the question is though. Why me? Do my wing feathers confuse her or something? Once we have Fluttershy back with us we need to get to the bottom of this.' _"Anyway, I'll be back I'm just gonna go wake RD up."

-2 minutes later-

KNOCK KNOCK

"Rainbow Dash? You up?"

…

"Rainbow Dash? You okay?"

…

"_Yeah! I'm fine. Just aching a bit."_

"Everybody's up and having breakfast."

"_Okay then I'll join you guys in a few minutes. I've just woken up."_

"Okay then. I'll see ya then."

-5 minutes later-

Rainbow Dash is on her way towards the dining room when she glances into a room and sees Swift playing Sonic 4 Episode 2 on his phone. With hooves?

"Hey, Swift? I thought you woulda been in the dining room. Whatcha doing in here?"

"Meh. I'm just thinkin'."

"While doing...well, whatever it is you're doing?"

"Hey, I can do two things at once!"

"You had to simply focus so you could pull off your own Sonic Rainboom."

"To be quite fair, Rainbow Dash, that was the first time I'd pulled it off!"

"Really? Then what was it I heard the other day while I was on my curfew watch?"

"That was possibly Bass's bowling buck. Heh. That's what he should call it. The "Bowling Buck!" Eh, I don't know if that's a crap name or a good name but meh, opinions are opinions. And I think it's absolutely terrible."

(Epic Sax Guy plays from Swift's phone)

"Oh! Picture message! I need to change that alert tone by the way."

He pauses his game and checks what the picture message is. There's a message attached to it saying "_Saw this around the same place you were racing to. That is some crazy stuff. Lol"_

"What the...that's your Sonic Rainboom. But next to it. What the smeg is that?"

He shows the screen to Rainbow Dash who grins at this. "You did that. Right before you blacked out on me."

Swift's eyes widen as he sees this. "I did this? But there's blue and yellow everywhere! With little sparks of electric! How could I have done this sort of thing?!"

"The same way I do my Sonic Rainbooms, duh! Going super awesomely fast enough to break the sound barrier!"

"I...broke...the...sound...barrier?...AWESOME! (squee)"

…

…

"Dude, you can stop making that weirdly cute face now."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Damn ADD."

"Anyway, I think I have a little name for my move. The Azure Bolt."

"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all! I suppose it makes sense with your cutie mark."

"What do you mean? My cutie mark just looks like wind to me."

"Why don't you take another look at it?"

He does so and what he sees makes him nearly drop his phone on the floor. His cutie mark has changed slightly. The wind trails that make up his cutie mark now come with a few bolts of lightening, some cyan and some yellow! (A/N Order now for a discount!)

"Well...that was slightly unexpected. I didn't think cutie marks could actually change!"

"Neither did I! But hey! We learned something new today!"

"I know and it's only like half past 11. And what have I achieved? Waking up from unconsciousness, nearly getting my face mauled off by a cat and getting the knowledge that cutie marks can get their own little decorations!" (Yo dawg I heard you like decorations)

"I can't stay cooped up in here all day. I get all twitchy. But if I'm gonna be stayin' here I'm gonna need to fetch a few things from my cloud house. Wanna come with?"

Swift thinks for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah I could do with an excuse to get out of here for a few wing stretches. I mean last night I just said I was going for a wing stretch and we both know what happened there. I didn't know about any curfew!"

Rainbow Dash nods in understanding. "Yeah, I mean I know in the end it turned out okay what with the awesomeness that is Rainbow Dash returning to her awesome origins but you could have gotten hurt."

"I think the scene that played out later on that same night proved that I got hurt anyway. I can still feel a couple of itches from those bees despite Cadance getting rid of visible evidence of bee stings. Stupid tranquilliser bees ruining our race. Which brings me to my next question, Dashie. I wasn't that heavy was I?"

"Nah, you weren't _that _ heavy. But then again I was kinda tired that night. I mean I was gonna go back to bed right after finishing in Manehatten but...Wait a second. Did you just call me "Dashie"?"

"Oh, yeah sorry. Was that a bad thing to do?"

Rainbow Dash's face turns to one of sadness. "No it's just that Pinkie Pie was the only one who called me Dashie." At this point tears start to form in her eyes from a reminder of her best friend.

Swift's expression turns to one of pity. He gets up and walks over to Dash, putting one hoof on her shoulder. "Dash."

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – If You Were Here)

She looks up at him, tears still present.

"Listen, trust me on this. We will get every single one of your friends back to normal. But please don't cry. Whenever a friend starts crying it's like it's infectious to me and I end up getting all blubbery as well. Let me tell ya, I was more or less actually crying when Big Mac told me that you were a black belt while I was hiding from you!

_'High and a winner, pay the front line, take the don'ts.  
He's Coming out again for a new point,  
Get your bets now ladies and gentlemen.'_

"Oh, sorry that's my phone. Know what Imma put it on loudspeaker. Hello?"

"_Swift. There's something very peculiar outside on the street."_

"Bass, define the word "Peculiar" in this situation."

"_I was out stretching my legs when I looked out of the alley and there I saw a a stand."_

"What kind of stand?"

"_It's right in the middle of the street and it's got pies on it"_

This causes Swift's and Dash's eyes to widen. Dash whispers"I don't like this. Something's definitely going on. And I want to find out what."

Swift whispers back "Well once we know what it is we can do something about it. But stay calm unless something bad happens."

"_Oh great some thick pegasus has decided it would be a smart idea to fly out and try and grab one."_

"_Gotcha, ya little punk!"_

"_HEEEELP!"_

"_No, Soarin!"_

Swift's eyes widen. "We'd better get up there."

-1 minute later-

Swift, Dash, Heart and Bass peek their heads around the corner and see Applejack. Or rather the brainwashed Applejack with the dark colour scheme. And without her trademark stetson.

Bass is the first to speak. Very quietly. "I have got to admit that is slightly creepy. The apples on her cutie mark are still red."

"What are we gonna do to get her attention?" Heart asks.

Swift is deep in thought. Then he has an idea. "I'm gonna need a stetson and one of them things that farmers where around their torso."

"A farmer's jacket?"

"Yes, Pete, a farmer's jacket."

-1 minute later-

"Right, ya little varmint. Once Ah've dragged ya all the way back to Nightmare Moon's castle, I'll be back here to wrangle another gullible pony."

"Stop raht there, dark horse!"

Applejack indeed stops in her tracks and turns around at the voice.

(BGM: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly theme)

It's Swift with (surprise surprise) a stetson upon his head, the farmer's jacket on to keep his wings hidden, some straw in his mouth for effect and for some reason some shades that look similar to Rainbow Dash's own. He was trotting into the scene through some magically created steam. Again done for effect.

"Now ah don't like what I see raht now. You must be oone messed up pony."

"Shut up! This don't concern you!"

"Ah'm afraid you're wrong, Honesty. The name's Colt Eastwood. Why don't you run at me and tackle me to tha ground if you're that bothered about me."

"_Honesty? What tha hay's that supposed ta mean?"_

"Actually, blue boy, Ah think you should run at me as well. I'd like to test your strength, see if ya can stand up ya lil' ol' Applejack."

"Colt Eastwood" stands there thinking. He then whispers something nopony else including Applejack can hear. He then turns back to Applejack with the same competitive look on his face.

"Ah accept yer challenge, Applejack."

So they stare each other down for a couple of seconds, both beckoning each other to start running first. Then...Swift starts running first. Applejack then follows suit.

They get really close to each other, then right at the last second, he tears off the jacket revealing his blue wings.

"Psyche, Jacko!"

He then pulls up into the sky, revealing Rainbow Dash tailgating him.

"R-Rainbow Dash?"

She promptly tackles Applejack to the ground knocking her unconscious...accidentally. "Heh. Oops." Swift then lands on the ground next to Rainbow Dash and the two share a hoof bump celebrating a job well done.

"So Dash, you got the Element of Honesty?"

"Right here!"

She pulls Honesty from her left front leg then places it around the unconscious Applejack's neck.

At first nothing happens but then she starts to glow. She then starts to float up into the air with her mane flowing. Her eyes glowing a bright white. She then returns to her orange coat and blonde mane. This lasts for 10 seconds and then she descends back onto the ground on her hooves.

She takes a moment to regain her normal consciousness. And then dons a look of guilt and regret on her face.

"Ah...Ah'm sorry everypony. Ah wasn't mahself. Ah'm not expecting you ta forgive me. Just understand."

At that point Swift comes floating casually upside down beside her holding the stetson he was using for his little stunt..

"Applejack. Have a stetson." He plops it upon her head. "I'll let Rainbow Dash say the rest."

Rainbow Dash walks up to her. "Well as much as I enjoyed that little western-esque scene- which I admit was kinda funny, especially hearing Swift's cowboy accent – it's good to have ya back on the right state of mind. Swift was right. We did look kinda insane while weren't ourselves!"

Applejack dons a smirk at this. "You were more hotheaded than ever! Of course ah didn't expect nothin' less from "The best flyer in Equestria!""

RD and Applejack glare playfully at each other then share a friendly hug. Swift's smirk turns into a genuine, heartfelt smile then finds himself floating down next to Heart and Bass. Tears start forming in Swift's eyes as he looks upon the hug. "I've just reunited two friends and now I feel fucking proud of myself. You done good today, Swift. You done good."

Bass breaks the moment "So what now?"

Swift runs to Bass and Heart.

"Well I was gonna say a certain word beginning with P but then I didn't want a certain physics defying psycho pony ballsing up the moment."

Applejack walks over to Swift. "Yer mighty crazy, sugercube. Anypony told ya that?"

"Yeah Princess Cadance told me earlier after I woke up from a tranquilliser bee ralated incident."

This makes Applejack chuckle. "Well however nutty that idea o' yours mighta' been, it worked." She hugs Swift out of gratitude. After 5 seconds the hug broke off. Swift then remembers something.

"Applejack, don't you think you ought to go see Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom? They were most likely scared out of their wits when they heard you'd rolled up into Manehatten with the intent to capture." Applejack nods in agreement then dashes over to Big Mac and Apple Bloom. But before she forgets...

Applejack unties Soarin from her lasso "Ya can keep the pie by the way."

"You're already forgiven, Applejack but thank you."

Swift has his usual casual goofy happy grin on at this moment. But then an idea comes to him.

"Anypony fancy a camp out?"

Then he hears some faint wubs. Shooting a look towards Bass's direction, he sees him hanging out with Vinyl Scratch and showing her some of his stuff that he's been working on. _'Well those two are getting on well. Why doesn't THAT surprise me? Heh.' _

Within 5 minutes everypony was socialising. Bass and Vinyl were enjoying Skrillex, Heart was getting along with Lyra, Bon Bon, Cheerilee, Cadance and Sweetie Belle, Applejack was with Big Mac, Granny Smith, Apple Bloom and Spike, and Swift, Rainbow Dash and Derpy were ganging out with the wonderbolts.

These people (er, ponies) know that from here on out, they need to stay strong and stick together. Now that Rainbow Dash and Applejack are back to normal, and with these three strange ponies that came into their lives only a few days ago, they feel stronger. But for some reason Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra and Applejack can't help but feel that something's a little off. And surprisingly enough, neither can Derpy!

AAAAND CHAPTER COMPLETE!

I always wanted to pull off a western scene. And I feel I did that rather well! Tell me in the reviews what you thought of this. Oh, and that last bit?

Well, all will be explained soon.

Until next time, brahs!


	8. Equestrian Clubbing and Bass

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 8: Equestrian clubbing and Bass**_

Comedy gets turned up a notch in this chapter. You'll see why.

(BGM: Sonic 06 – [Event] Mephiles' Temptation)

(Location: Unknown castle. Possibly Canterlot)

"_Hmm. I felt it. That feeling again. I felt the same kind of feeling last night. I wonder what it could be...?"_

A pitch black alicorn sits on her stolen throne as she awaits more news from her little army of six, unaware that two them of have already been restored. Deciding her next course of action, she picks up a scroll, writes a message to one of them and sends it off. An hour after sending it, the doors to the throne room open. In bounces an earth pony with a navy blue mane, a purple coat, with a mane that goes straight down with no kind of styling whatsoever and 3 cyan balloons as a cutie mark.

"You called queenie?"

In outrage of being called "Queenie" she grabs this pony with her magic and brings her face to face with herself.

"How many times have I told you not to CALL ME QUEENIE?!"

"Uuuuum. Over 9000?" She asks with a sheepish grin. (A/N. I'm so sorry.)

"Agh, never mind." She drops the pony on the floor with the pony somehow landing with the same sound as a squeaky toy.

"Look around Equestria for any type of irregularity. I sense a great disturbance in the force. With your bizarre abilities I'm surprised you didn't get here sooner."

"I just wanted to get a feeling of suspense."

Rolling her eyes, the alicorn retorts "Now why doesn't THAT surprise me? Now GO!"

Throwing the alicorn a salute, the pony replies with "Okie dokie lokie!" then promply dashes out of there.

(Location: Downtown Manehatten)

(BGM: Sonic Unleashed – Skyscraper Scamper Night)

"Sugacube, you sure about this? Ah mean-"

"Relax, Applejack. I mean we have me, you, Big Macintosh, Swift, Vinyl Scratch, Derpy, Bass, Soarin and Heart. Don't get your stetson in a twist. If anything happens back there they'll call us using that...thing that Swift's using at the moment. Wait what's that?"

They look back at Swift in flight keeping up with the rest of the group playing with his 3DS. Swift for some reason is talking to it and mumbling intelligible swear words at it. Something along the lines of "That under levelled Hydreigon is a pain in the arse." Or something like that.

Applejack chuckles at Swift's antics. "Ah swear that pony seems even more doolally than Pinkie Pie!"

Rainbow rolls her eyes at this "Possibly. I mean did you see the trick he pulled earlier? When he was explaining it to me I thought he WAS Pinkie in disguise!"

"I can hear you, you know!" Swift is heard shouting from behind.

Bass is heard replying with "Well you DID decide to do an Epic Rap battle for our last project."

"That wasn't me, it was- oh, never mind.."

"Let's just say there's an infinite number of me simultaneously kicking your arse with rhyme!"

"Pete, I'm not about to go into an Epic Rap Battle recital again. Honestly Joe does enough of that he almost ruined the experience of watching them!"

Bass chuckles at this then replies "We just need brutal death metal remixe-"

"NO, Treble! No brutal death metal remixes! Please!...Although the Skrillex vs Mozart one would be hilarious with screamo vocals."

"Oh, God. That would be amazing." They both laugh to themselves at the thought of the odd remix.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack roll their eyes at the conversation. Then they chorus "Yeah, they're both pretty weird. But a good weird."

Applejack chuckles to herself again then thinks to herself "_Could they get any weirder?"_

"Hey, what's this guitar doing in the middle of the street?"

"Yup, they could." She says flatly.

For the next 15 minutes Swift and Bass were singing a few songs to keep everypony (and Spike) entertained. Swift was playing the guitar while both him and Bass were singing songs that ranged from The Proclaimers' 500 Miles to Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire. Wait, what?

As soon as they reach the their destination, Heart decides to grab the guitar out of Swift's hooves using her telekinesis and snap it in half. This makes Swift childishly point at Heart and say "You owe me a guitar."

Heart rolls her eyes knowing Swift is joking and walks into the place they were heading for along with the rest of the group. Aside from Rainbow, Swift and Soarin who flew through the door. It's a club!

It's surprisingly lively considering how Equestria is now! Oh yeah this is Manehatten "Don't give a crap" district. These ponies are hardcore!

"I was about to say that!"

Well sorry, Swift(!)

Bass looks around the club and whistles. Not a bad club! Music's got some good bass and is friggin' upbeat!"

Swift nods and replies "I bet Sandstorm and a few more drinks would really make the ponies in this place raise the roof. Anyway Imma go and see what equivalent of a WKD they have here."

(BGM: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Party Stronger)

Bass and Heart agree and join Swift at the bar and soon the rest of the group are relaxing in the bar.

Bass walks up to Rainbow Dash and asks "Is Derpy okay with drinking? I mean when she's sober she isn't in that much control as it is."

Rainbow shrugs and replied "You'll be surprised at what a few drinks can do to Derpy. She's like a totally different pony. Seriously she has more control over her eyes when she's had a drink."

Sure enough, half an hour later, Derpy's eyes were as straight as possible and she was having a regular conversation with a couple of other ponies. Rainbow Dash was right!

"See told you!"

That fourth wall is fragile. Speaking of...

(Location: Just outside Manehatten)

(BGM: Pokemon Colosseum – Pyrite Town)

The same earth pony from earlier was walking into Manehatten mumbling to herself.

"Stupid Nightmare Moon. She's no...what was that word again? I can't seem to remember. I feel like that word was important to me."

She hears the music from the same club that the group are at. "Huh?"

She figures out where that music is coming from, and then with a curious look on her face, she starts bouncing towards the club.

"Perhaps wherever that music's coming from can help me remember."

(Location: Downtown Manehatten club)

(BGM: Sonic Generations – Speed Highway Act 1)

Everypony in the club by now is either stood at the bar – such as Bass, Big Mac and Applejack, talking to other ponies – such as Heart, Soarin and Derpy, or on the dance floor – such as Swift, Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch.

That is until Swift decides he needs a piss.

"Anyone know where the bathroom is?"

A random pony points their hoof over in the general direction of the bathrooms. "That way, dude."

"Cheers!" Deciding that he doesn't want to try to make his way through the crowd he decides to think outside the box and use his wings to get over the crowd, making a mental note to thank whoever owned the place for making the ceilings high enough.

While he's in there, a certain earth pony walks into the club. She has a look around at the ponies in there dancing and having a good time. Her eyes look on in wonder. Tears roll down her face. She recognises what all these ponies are doing. While she stands there, she doesn't notice Applejack and Rainbow Dash walking up to her. However, what she does notice is her hooves starting to change colour. Her memories start rolling back to her like a ton of bricks. Have you figured out who this pony is yet? If you haven't, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Rainbow Dash is the first to speak. "P-pinkie Pie?"

She says nothing.

"Sugacube?"

As she fully remembers herself, she turns bright pink again and her mane inflates. Her familiar cheery smile returns. She starts bouncing up and down on her hooves "Rainbow Dash! Applejack! Did ya miss me? How is everyone? Did I look creepy? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash's faces both brighten up with smiles and they start laughing. "That's Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie Pie starts laughing along as well. She brings out her party cannon from nowhere, eager to fire it off in celebration. She is about to do so when Rainbow Dash stops her. "I have a better idea."

-1 minute later-

Swift is just coming out of the bathroom when he sees a horrifying sight. Pinkie's Party cannon aimed straight for him.

"What the f-"

**BOOM!**

Swift is pushed onto his back and covered in streamers and balloons. This makes everypony in the club, including the DJ, Heart and Bass laugh.

Swift pushes his head out of the pile of streamers and balloons and look around. Everypony is laughing at the funny sight. He notices Pinkie in the midst of ponies, and at that moment, he starts laughing loudly as well.

In the next hour, everypony had a few more drinks and Swift, Bass and somehow Pinkie were perfectly doing the moves to PJ and Duncan's Let's Get Ready to Rhumble and everypony was cheering for them.

Everypony in the group (including Pinkie Pie) is walking out of the club. They only had two drinks each tonight! Then again everypony was too busy talking to each and socialising. Swift at the moment is singing a song just because

"_I wear your grandad's clothes. I look incredible. I'm in this big ass coat. From the thrift shop down the road."_

Bass joins in _"I'm gonna pop some tags, only got 20 dollas in mah pocket. I – I – I'm huntin'. Lookin' for a come up. This is f-"_

Swift then holds up a hoof, shushing Bass. "Hang on a second. Where did Pinkie get that lampshade?" He points to the lampshade that sits upon Pinkie's head.

Rainbow Dash flatly answers "It's Pinkie Pie. She coulda got it from anywhere!"

Heart replies "Was there a lampshade anywhere in the club?"

Big Mac answers "Ah think there was just where the bathrooms were. He'll be wantin' that back."

Applejack turns her attention to the unconscious pegasus that lies on Big Mac's back (Hey that rhymed!)

"How did Derpy get unconscious anyways?. Ah thought she was only havin' two drinks. Like the rest o' us?"

Soarin facehoofs at this. "She's probably a lightweight. I've seen it happen before."

Rainbow Dash turns to the rest of the group. "I'm gonna go ahead and tell them that we're back."

She flies off, doing a couple of tricks just to show off as she leaves the rest behind to let home team know that the clubbers are on their way back. Swift comments with "Nice."

A Pink blur shoots past him "IWANNAGOTOO!"

Swift's mane comically shoots forward over his eyes, like something you'd see in Looney Tunes.

He turns to Applejack. "Is she gonna be okay flying while a liitle tipsy?"

"Ah know Rainbow Dash and ah know she ain't no lightweight. She'll be fine."

-1 minute later-

Rainbow Dash rounds the corner where their camp is located. But her eyes wide as she sees them.

Timberwolves. 4 of them to be exact.

They they approach the frightened ponies- "Hey!" -and Spike very slowly. Just as she's about to take action against these overgrown, strangely 3D critters, a familiar pink blur shoots past her.

(BGM: Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness – Cipher Peon Battle)

"EAT STREAMERS YOU BIG MEANIES!"

This grabs the attention of everypony there and Spike. They are shocked to see Pinkie Pie right there, grabbing her party cannon right out of nowhere and firing it straight at the timberwolves, knocking two of them out and breaking them apart. The other two stand there, shocked at first. But then they growl and are about to pounce. Then out of nowhere, Bass and Applejack jump over and give the last two their hardest bucks, so hard in fact that they break apart just like the two before.

Then the rest of the ponies, lead by Soarin and Swift, round the corner and see a sight that they weren't expecting, Applejack, Bass and Pinkie standing there with their own proud looks on their faces while the rest of the ponies and Spike were stood with a look that seemed to mix "WTF" and "Um, what?"

-1 hour later-

After everything is explained (well this is Pinkie Pie so they tried their best to explain, which is why it took an hour) everypony turns in for the night. All except for Bass. He's currently deep in thought.

"_I always seem to be the one who follows everypony without questioning it at all. I don't know why. But this bunch are an alright lot. I've only known them for a few days. Even when I first met them..well that was when I woke up from falling down the hatch. My nose still hurts. Though why didn't it break? Then again, I am in a cartoon world. Unless this is all real and I'm not dreaming."_

_You'd be correct, earth pony._

"_WHAT THE-...Princess Luna?"_

_Correct._

(BGM: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Gates to Infinity – Welcome to the World of Pokemon!)

"_But you're...you're..."_

_Nightmare Moon? That's just an assumption._

"_What's that mean?"_

_Well...you could say that it's true. But at the same time...it isn't._

"_...I think my brain just fizzled."_

_(Sigh) I had Tia use a duplication spell on me immediately after news of Nightmare Moon's return broke out. You don't think I'd make it that easy for her did you?_

"_Woah. That is bloody brilliant! Seriously!"_

_Why thank you, subject. By the way, I hope you don't think that getting the rest of the Elements back to their normal selves won't be easy._

"_Of course I don't. I never expected it to be easy to be honest. Rainbow Dash was based on good timing and reminding her of what she has to lose, Applejack due to an insane idea by Swift. And Pinkie Pie was...well to be honest I don't know what the hell that was to be honest. But then again...I don't know what to expect. But whatever happens...(sigh) I trust my mates completely. I trusted Swift's western themed idea. I don't know why. But every time I've been able to trust someone- er somepony it always ended up being the right decision. Call it an instinct."_

_Making the right choices. Something you've always been able to do. I wonder..._

"_...Wonder what?"_

_Oh, nothing. Anyway I'm sure you want to get a bit of sleep._

"_Yeah I kinda do. All this thinking has made me slightly tired. Plus all that raving earlier tired me out as well. But before you go, I just want to ask.."_

_Hmm?_

"_Why did me, Swift and Heart have instant cutie marks when we got here? Shouldn't we have had to find our talent before getting them? It's actually been bugging me since we got here. That's why I've not been saying much."_

_I understand your curiosity. I do know why. But I cannot answer that right now. It isn't the right time yet. Trust me on that._

…

…

"_...Okay. I trust you. Completely."_

_Oh, before I forget._

"_Hmm?"_

(BGM: Pokemon Black and White – Carrying out a Mission)

_Tomorrow. Be careful. As far as Nightmare Moon is concerned, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie have all disappeared. She may send another one of them. In fact, I know that Fluttershy has been summoned and is on her way to Canterlot Castle right now. But I'm sensing something in Fluttershy. Feelings...of great regret. Part of the reason she's working for Nightmare Moon is because she's been brainwashed. But I'm sensing another reason...fear._

"_I can understand that. She isn't exactly the most fearless pony."_

_Exactly. With any luck, tomorrow, should you run into her, you should be able to get her back on our side. But like I said, even with those conditions is might not be that easy. Even with your strength, I urge you and your friends to take care._

"_Don't worry. Thanks for the warning."_

_Do you trust us?_

"_Yeah. For sure."_

_Good. I'll let you fall into slumber. _

After Luna went away, Bass heads straight for an unoccupied bed wondering what Luna – or even maybe Celestia – might reveal to him and the other two. Walking past Swift's bed he hears the usual mumbling. "m...'s a Grep shirt. ...'s a Grep shirt. I'm...gonna...get a Grep shirt. Zzzzzzzz."

He carries on walking and seeing an unoccupied bed next to Pinkie Pie's. He gets straight into bed and drops off to sleep.


	9. Back to the Woods and a new friend

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 9: Back to the Woods and a new friend**_

In Manehatten, the pony campers (plus Spike) are sound asleep, with only a few snores from a few ponies. Swift, despite being a usually loud snorer, is surprisingly snoring softly.

That is, until an alarm goes off. With the track Launch Out from Guilty Gear XXAC.

This makes Swift wake up with a triumphant look on his face for some reason. "I was right. That is an awesome alarm tone."

He grabs his phone and turns the song off, earning a tired "Aw" from Rainbow Dash.

He chuckles to himself then looks over to Dash, who is in the bed that's opposite to his own. "That was about half way through so it wouldn't have lasted much longer. Though the second half does contain that badass guitar riff!"

"(yawn) Ah don't know about anypony else but ah don't really care for that sort o' music."

"Eenope."

"Sorry, everypony...know what? Never mind it's morning anyway."

-10 minutes later-

Everypony is having their own breakfasts at their own paces. As half of the Elements are back to their old selves, they feel much much safer as they did a couple of days ago.

Although earlier Swift was a bit sceptical at first on how Pinkie had managed to turn to normal, he managed to somehow wrap his head around it as Rainbow Dash and Applejack and told him to either think about the fact that they were partying and Pinkie remembered through it, or just the fact that...well, it's Pinkie Pie.

Bass's talk with Princess Luna is still lingering in Bass's head. He also notices that every once in a while the his bass speaker cutie mark is somehow pounding like it was pumping out Darude's Sandstorm. He remembers feeling really weird when he closed his eyes for sleep last night.

"_What the hell happened last night? Should I tell the others about Nightmare Moon possessing a clone and Princess Luna still being out there in hiding? I mean...that's what I presume she's doing as she probably doesn't want Nightmare Moon finding her. Heh. I actually expected this sort of thing to be happening to Swift or even Heart. One's a magic wielding unicorn that's more powerful than I expected and the other is a pegasus who can fly faster and better than I expected! Ugh, I need a drink. I think I still have a bottle or two of WKD in my bag. Kinda convenient that it's there. Heh."_

_You can tell the others, young colt._

"_Wha...?"_

_Thinking about drinking again? It's only 9:10am!_

"_Yeah I know but I just need to clear my head."_

_Oh?_

"_My cutie mark is pounding like a bass speaker, which is basically what it is but how is it meant to pound like that? I didn't know cutie marks can do that?"_

_Didn't Swift's cutie mark have some sort of addition to it after performing his Azure Bolt?_

"_...Good point there."_

_Guess cutie marks DO have some ways of surprising people._

"_Yeah, guess so."_

_So yeah you can tell your friends about my free roam. And the good thing about this is that if duplication spells are used on ponies, the resulting pony isn't as powerful as the real one. However, that doesn't mean that you can take Nightmare Moon lightly as she herself is still pretty strong with her magic. And I have a feeling that this time, once Nightmare Moon has been defeated, it will be permanent_

"_What makes you think that?"_

_I have no clue. I'll go now, Your friend is approaching you._

"Ayup, Bass. Listen we're about to go out on a search again. You in?"

"Uh, yeah. I'll be right there. Wait who's going?"

"Uh, me, Heart, Big Macintosh, Soarin, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. And you if you're with us and not moping about."

"What do you mean?"

"Bass, I'm no Applejack, but even I can tell that something's up. You're as readable as an experienced crackhead in court. (sigh) Look, if there's something you need to talk to us about, you can trust us lot to listen to it. We'll listen to you. You just need to trust us-"

(BGM: Star Fox Assault – Mission Briefing 2)

"I DO trust you. But do YOU guys trust me? Look, since we've been here all I've ever done is make wise cracks at your expense, managed to knock down a few trees, knock myself unconscious just by falling down a hatch, and when you were almost brown bread when Rainbow Dash caught you, I didn't do a thing to help you."

Swift's expression turns to one of a "WTF" nature. "Bass, as far as I know, no pony -actually scratch that- no PERSON ever has managed to knock down like 10 to 15 tress with just one kick. Get a shot right and you can probably knock down the entire of Applejack's ranch! In terms of the unconsciousness thing, I'm pretty surprised myself that I wasn't knocked unconscious after landing face first after the hatch incident. My face is still hurting a little bit. Those two facts right there shows that your strength would be helpful if you used it the right way. In fact, when you knocked those trees down I swear I could hear a few wubs. Don't ask me how that's even possible. Probably how hard you hit the first tree. But back to the point when Rainbow Dash had me pinned down you, Heart and Cadance had only just arrived at the scene and a some sort of long range...thing was needed. Words were the only things that were needed to get Rainbow back to normal, which is ironic since she's usually all action no think..." "Hey!" "...which leads on to the wise crack subject, the only wisecrack you've really made was the one about me bricking it when Rainbow Dash had me cornered, who cares if it was at my expense? Managed to get Rainbow Dash back into the smilin' mood so it doesn't really bother me. Even if I did react. Actually I would still react. You haven't been completely watching from the sidelines all the way. Last night when everypony who didn't come clubbing with us was getting threatened by timberwolves, after Pinkie had somehow taken two out with streamers balloons and confetti, you and Applejack finished the last two off with your hardest bucks. I think that says a lot for somepony "watching from the sidelines", doesn't it? So far we've all done our fair share here. And yes we all trust you. I thought all that was clear before?"

Bass stands there thinking about it and then a genuine smile forms on his face. "Yeah, I supposed you're right. Anyway those timberwolves made for great firewood afterwards. Yeah I trust you guys as well. Thanks for that, Lewis I needed that bo- what the hell?" A familiar white aura starts to form, making his Skrillex-esque mane start to wave as if wind were blowing, the exact same as when it happened to Heart and Swift a few days ago. 10 seconds later it stops.

Swift is the first one to speak. "Okay. Looks like that's all of us." He jokes.

Bass turns to Swift and the rest of the ponies. "So where is it we're going?"

Applejack speaks up. "We're going to try to get through Ponyville."

This startles everypony (sans Cadance) and Spike with a "WHAT?!"

Cadance speaks up. "There's only so far I can teleport you. Besides. Someone needs to watch over the rest of these ponies, should something happen. That's why Big Macintosh didn't come with us last time."

"Um, excuse me, Princess?" A familiar voice that was only heard yesterday when Applejack came to visit makes herself known. It's Spitfire, one of the Wonderbolts.

"If you went along with those Soarin and the rest of the ponies, any trouble that tried here wouldn't get past us. Besides, you're going to Ponyville. We'll be fine."

Swift leans over to Heart and whispers "From what I hear it seems Ponyville's gone down the shitter. I think once this is over we'd best stick around for a bit and help get everything back to how it is in the show."

Heart replies with "Probably. I mean you never know, if we do stick around, I might end up liking it here. Everypony seems so friendly. And Ponyville, when it's bustling with ponies and the such, is a nice little quiet town."

Swift scoffs "Well at the moment it certainly seems empty so quiet is a little bit too accurate there."

"Eh, I suppose so. We'll just have to see what happens."

"Wait hang on, how do we know we'll even have a way back?"

"Do you want to go back?"

"Uhhhh...uhh... (sigh) I don't know. I'll just make that decision when we come to it I suppose."

"Me too."

"I'm coming with then." Cadance announces.

Rainbow Dash pipes up. "So where exactly are we teleporting to?"

"The outskirts of Ponyville. But while we're there, we need to lay low."

Heart smirks _"Unless shit hits the fan, of course."_

Spike pipes up for the first time in a while. "Can I come too?"

Applejack answers. "Uh, ah dunno sugacube. Ah mean it could get awful dangerous."

"I can handle it. Now let's go already!"

"Okay, okay! Now hold tight everypony...and Spike."

And with that, the ponies and Spike teleport.

(Location: Ponyville outskirts)

(BGM: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 – Northern Desert)

The ponies and Spike appear just outside Ponyville and take a look at the deserted town that was once a happy community. That was until Nightmare Moon returned and forced ponies to take refuge elsewhere.

They take a look at the place in sadness.

Swift is the first to speak up. "H-h-h-holy crap!"

Bass nods in agreement. "It's like a friggin' ghost town!"

Heart holds back a few tears. "The exact opposite of what I've heard of this place."

Rainbow Dash, AJ and Pinkie see for themselves for the first time since turning back to normal the state of Ponyville. Pinkie's mane deflates and turns a darker shade of pink.

"Ah...can't believe what became of us."

"Now this makes me more determined than ever to take down tall-dark-and-ugly!"

"That...big...MEANIE!"

Swift quickly flies over to Pinkie and tries to calm her down. "Woah there. Calm down Pinkazoid! Let's just get this done and then you can throw a party. Deal?"

Pinkie's mane reinflates at the mention of the word "Party." "Deal!" And she shoots off into town, followed by Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Soarin, Cadance, Big Mac, Heart, Bass and as soon as he got his bearing, Swift.

-5 minutes later-

They arrive in the middle of town, passing different familiar buildings that Ponyville held. Sugarcube Corner, the schoolhouse, the mayor's house (Swift could swear one of the lights were still on. Maybe the mayor was in a rush to get out of there..), the clocktower,the hospital (again, Swift could swear he could see some lights on in that place.), Sweet Apple Acres in the distance and Carousel Boutique. Spike looks longingly at Rarity's business and home. AJ, noticing this, snaps him out of it. "Don't get any ideas, Spike. And ah'll say the same for when we pass the library. We're laying low. Something ah admit ah'm surprised we still managed to do after Pinkie's outburst."

"I know, AJ. I just can't stand to think that either one of them is alone."

Swift turns to Cadance. "We have the last 3 Elements on us. Can't we just bash in there and put the Elements on them?"

"We have to have patience, Swift."

"(sigh) Well it was worth a try."

Bass turns to the rest. "If there's any Element that we'll get back today, I have a feeling that it'll end up being Fluttershy."

Rainbow whips her head towards him. "How could you know tha-"

"Just trust me, alright? It's just a feeling."

"(sigh) Fine. I'm sorry. Fluttershy's like a sister to me. Whenever I get reminded that she's brainwashed I get all antsy."

"Hey look we're nearing the library!" This is Cadance talking.

Swift glances his head towards it. "Woah, that place looks a mess. Even from the outside!"

A purple flash that is seen through the window shocks them all out of their thoughts. Pinkie talks up, albeit quietly. "Maybe we ought to come back later..."

She is met with a unanimous "Here, here."

And soon they walk out of sight of the library.

-5 more minutes later-

They ponies are now walking into the entrance of Everfree Forest. They decided to skip checking out Fluttershy's cottage because they knew of the fabled "Stare". The same that Fluttershy had somehow used on Shining Armour to arrest him.

Rainbow Dash speaks up first. "Man, Ponyville looks almost as worse as when I did that double rainboom! Man things went really crazy that day."

Pinkie Pie agrees with her. "I know, right? It was a day of a big wave of rainbows and references. Hm, still haven't decided what to do with that blue guy." She says this nonchalantly while happily bouncing along on her way.

Swift, Heart and Bass's faces turn really flat with a slight hint of confusion.

"I'm not even gonna ask at this point."

"Best way."

"Eeyup."

Swift, Dash and Soarin take off into different directions in the forest to see if they could find any more ponies that had taken refuge outside of Ponyville.

(BGM: Sonic Adventure 2 – The Base)

(With Soarin)

He decides to take it slow with caution, just in case.

He starts to sweat out of anxiety. _"Okay, Soarin. There's nothing around here that you can't handle."_

As he keeps trying to console himself, he fails...misarably.

"Uh, uh, uh. AGH! Oh, it was just a cockatrice. Wait, A COCKATRICE! I DON'T WANNA BE TURNED INTO STONE!"

Out of sheer fear and impulse he bucks the cockatrice square in its beak sending it flying (ironically).

"_Phew, glad that's over. I may as well head back tot he group. Wonder how RD and Swift are doing?"_

(With Rainbow Dash)

True to her daredevil nature, she's manoeuvring the trees while keeping a sharp eyes out for refugees.

"_Man, with Nightmare Moon's constant night time, this just makes the Everfree Forest just that little touch creepier."_

She stops her train of thought and hoofslaps herself across the face. "What am I thinking, I'm the totally awesome Rainbow Dash! Nothing scares me!" As if on cue, she hears the growling of a Manticore, causing her two jump a few hundred feet into the air then come back down and land in the trees. She looks at the Manticore, which by now is laughing at her expense. "Oh, hardy har har!"

She decides to just get out of this Manticore's presence and get back to the group. She doesn't like to admit it but she feels much safer with a group than on her own.

(With Swift)

He is flying over the trees, hoping to see something from the very top. But, like the other two, he just comes out short and stops for a minute.

"Hmm. If I was a refugee pony hiding from some psycho ponies, where would I be? Hmmmm. Wait why am I saying "if"? I AM one. Sorta. Hmmmmm."

He continues thinking his front legs crossed and his chin resting on one hoof, unaware that a big dragon is emerging from the trees behind him, with a black pony with a long pale blue mane stood on top.

The dragon stands there behind him waiting for the hovering pony to turn around and react. (You'll be waiting a bloody long time there, matey!)

Actually he doesn't have to wait long, as Swift does turn round and sees some scales. His eyes start to widen, and they continue to widen as he slowly looks up and sees the dragon grinning at him.

(BGM: Scott Pilgrim vs The World – Gigadeon)

Swift removes his hooves from his face while his eyes finish widening.

Everything's silent for a few moment before Swift speaks up.

"Uh, nice choppers, Rayquaza. You do know there's a pony on your head giving me a dirty look right?"

Swift takes a closer look at this pony. _"She looks kinda familiar. That mane. Wait a minute. The cutie mark..."_

His eyes somehow widen even more. "Sweet zombie Michael Jackson!"

Then he remembers the "Stare Master" episode and what the stare could do. "Uh, I don't want any trouble. I can just fly off crapping myself and we can all forget about this...please?"

The pony stays silent for a few moments sharpening her glare making Swift shudder even more than he already was.

"You're coming with me...I mean, if that's alright with you."

Swift snaps out of his panic trance at these words and gives his answer.

"FUCK THAT!"

And with those words he charges off back towards his friends and away from this dragon. Of course, this dragon gives chase, not letting this pony get away. And he is somehow able to keep up with Swift's speed.

Swift, meanwhile looks back and sees the dragon catching up to him. _"Hily crap. How fast is this mug?"_

"You might be fast, Mister Dragon but they don't call me Swift for nothing! Holy crap that was cheesy as."

He picks up speed and carries on towards place where he, Rainbow Dash and Soarin split up from the rest of the group, hoping to shake him off.

"_Kind of glad I put that Bluetooth in my bag. Now let's see if I can't get this thing working properly."_

(Scene change: Rest of the group)

The rest of the non-flying ponies and Spike are sat and waiting for any news. First, Soarin arrives back. "I didn't find a thing. Though I think a cockatrice will be feeling pain on his face in the morning."

Then Rainbow Dash arrives back. "I didn't see anypony. I came across this Manticore though. Seemed to have a problem with ponies passing through."

Spike counts on his fingers "So that's a cockatrice, a manticore. What's next?"

As if on cue, Bass's phone rang with The Prodigy's Breathe.

"Hello?"

"Bass, can you put this on loudspeaker?"

…

"Okay done."

"Thank you. Um, I'm on my way back there, but behind me there's a bigass dragon tailing me. I don't know if anypony has any plans that can stop a big dragon but if you have, I'd pretty much appreciate it for all of our sakes."

Bass is silent for a moment then says flatly "Crap."

"There's a pegasus on the top of its head holding on for dear life as well. I think you guys might know who it is once we get there."

Right as he says this, he rounds the corner still shaking the dragon off of his trail with the dragon close behind.

"_Oh, crap. I think there's only one thing for it."_

(BGM: Episode 16 – Sonic Rainboom)

He tilts his altitude downwards and starts to gain even more speed. He then starts to notice the familiar Mach cone forming around his front hooves.

"Crap, this is probably gonna hurt. SOMEPONY GET THIS FRIGGIN' DRAGON OFF OF MY CASE, PLEASE!"

"Hey, it's Fluttershy!"

"_Nice observation there, Dash..."_

**BOOOOM!**

Swift breaks the sound barrier once again but this time he's actually conscious to experience it. The rest of the ponies (sans, Dash, Heart, Cadance and Bass) plus Spike, all stand there with their jaws hitting the ground. Meanwhile the dragon is thrown off balance from flying through the blue and yellow electrified wave, while Fluttershy, with her mane standing on end due to the weak electric shock (Swift: "SORRY, FLUTTERSHY!") is hanging on tighter than ever while the dragon is trying to get its balance flying very close to the ground.

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron/Galaxy Force – A Look of Fire)

Swift shoots past the ponies leaving a blue and yellow streak behind but the dragon is dangerously close to crashing into everypony. Bass's cutie mark starts glowing and beating like a bass speaker again and, acting on impulse, Bass himself decides to turn around and pull off his hardest ever buck. It connects with the dragon's nose, stopping him dead in his track and sending Fluttershy screaming and flying right off the head. Luckily the kick that Bass gave off gave Bass and jump start and used the momentum to try and catch Fluttershy.

He succeeds. But landing on the ground, his knees end up giving and he collapses under the weight of his own and Fluttershy's light body.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy, who is sat atop Bass's back shivering, looks up to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash looking down at her with concerned looks on their faces. Then Pinkie Pie popsup next to them with her usual cheery face and holding a cupcake in her hand. Now where the smeg did that come from?!

"Hi, Fluttershy! You look different."

Applejack decides to cut her pink friend off before she says something she might regret later. "Ah, think that Pinkie Pie means is that yer lookin mighty dark for someone who's special talent is takin' care of animals (Swift: "Now that sounds a little racist but that's just me.") and is one of the kindest ponies anypony else could ever get to know. Do you remember when you fell all the way from Cloudsdale as a filly? When Rainbow Dash pulled off that Sonic Rainboom? Them butterflies caught ya. You managed to get your cutie mark through talkin' to those little critters after the rainboom managed to scare the livin' daylights out of the poor things. Just like you were tellin' the fillies before this whole mess happened."

Rainbow steps in. "Yeah, that was when I was standing up for you. Against those two bullies. I didn't bother remembering their names. But I hated seeing you getting picked on by those cowards. It wasn't until after the race that I realised I'd knocked you off the clouds and down into Ponyville. I was worried sick! But then I saw that you'd got your cutie mark and I can say right now that I was really proud of you."

Fluttershy turns her head round to look at her cutie mark and afterwards, all her memories come rushing back to her like the opening to The Fast Show.

Her old colours come sparkling back like the last 3 that came back to normal.

She looks and realises that she was sat on Bass. She immediately jumps up.

"Eep. I'm so so sorry. I didn't realise."

"Nah, it's fine. Now I know how Swift felt when we fell into that hatch. Still don't know how I ended up unconscious in the first place and Swift didn't."

Swift lands beside them, all tired out after flying that fast for so long.

"Legs all tuckered out, Bass? Hehe. Wow I hope I didn't attract too much attention from that wave. That was intense."

Bass rolls his eyes. "Tell me about it."

Heart walks right besides them. "Well what are we gonna do with this dragon? He's unconscious in the middle of the Everfree Forest."

Fluttershy answers by flying up onto the dragon's nose (This dragon is more or less the same size as the dragon from the episode Dragonshy.) waking the dragon up.

"So sorry for waking you up, Mr Dragon, but I was wondering you'd help me and my friends get out of the Everfree Forest."

The dragon grumbles at the question. "Grrr. Why should I help that black maned pony? He kicked me right in the nose and I'm still feeling the pain!"

Bass shoots onto his feet from the sudden loud voice. "Sorry about that, mate. I was scared for me and my friends! Swift's the one who did that wave and spun you out of control!"

Swift turns to Bass with an eyebrow arched. "Make up your mind, Bass. You wanted trust to help your friends and I gave you the trust to do that. Deary me."

Fluttershy shakes her head at the two bickering friends and turns to the dragon. "Well I'm sorry for them. But we really need your help."

Heart jumps onto the nose and walk up beside Fluttershy. "Besides. You had no problem helping Fluttershy before did you?"

"I did that because I was lonely. None of the other dragons see me as a proper dragon for a reason I'd rather not go into..."

Swift flies up to the dragon and lands on the nose besides Heart and Fluttershy. "Not a proper dragon? Mate, if you've got scales, the ability to breathe fire and stuff like that, you're a dragon, no doubt about that. What reason? You can tell us."

The dragon sighs then lifts up his wing. What the ponies see next shocks them.

It's a cutie mark.


	10. Names

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 10: Names**_

**(A/N Now we're in the double digits! Can somebody get me a hollah?...No? Oh, okay then. Read on guys.)**

Carrying on from where we left off, the dragon is showing off the surprise cutie mark under his wing.

The ponies (and Spike) are stood there in a mix of awe, confusion, and straight up WTF-ness.

To sum up the reactions of the heroes, this is how it goes:

Swift, Rainbow Dash, Spike and Soarin: "What..."

Bass, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Big Mac: "...the..."

Heart, Fluttershy and Cadance: "...hay?"

The dragon sighs. "Yeah, that was pretty much the reaction of the rest of the dragons. Except much more colourful language similar to that used by blue boy..." "Hey!" "...as soon as they saw that they kicked me out, claiming that I was a wimp and too much like the ponies. To be quite honest I wasn't as reckless as the other dragons tended to be. But that does NOT give them the right to call me a wimp."

Swift then speaks up. "What exactly were you doing when you saw your cutie mark appear?"

"I was breathing large amounts of fire, actually larger than most other dragons. But unlike most other dragons I don't like to show off. I'm not that kind of dragon. But I was mad when breathing that stream of fire. It's because of my modest attitude that I don't have any friends. When I saw Fluttershy I immediately saw something wrong with her. I wanted to help out. But that stare of hers. I let it control me! And...I'm a fool."

Swift shrugged his shoulders. "It is a really powerful stare. I mean she managed to stare the captain of the royal guard into submission for crying out loud!" This earns him a hoof slap upside the head from Rainbow Dash. "Ow. But anyway, you know what I think?"

"What."

"I think those other dragons are simply jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Dude, you have the potential to become something great and those other dragons just don't! They're picking on you because you have something they want. Their own special talent. Just remember that. You're something great. Don't let any dickhead tell you otherwise. I mean come on you managed to put the shits into me!"

This makes the dragon smirk and chuckle at the memory of Swift's earlier reaction to him. "Yeah that was actually hilarious."

"If your special talent is fire that means you aren't to be messed with."

Rainbow steps in. "How you got your cutie mark reminds me of how a friend of ours got her cutie mark."

The dragon raises his eye at this. "Really?"

"Yeah. She was trying to hatch Spike here..." "Hi." "...for her entrance exam."

"Entrance exam? To what?"

"To Princess Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. Anyway, she was struggling greatly even though she studied hard for this exam. But at the same time as that was happening, I was standing for Fluttershy because she getting some flack from these bullies. I decided to show them who's boss with a race. On descent I ended up going so fast I broke the sound barrier. When that happened, a rainbow wave similar to the one that threw you out of concentration ended up spreading throughout a lot of Equestria. It spread from Cloudsdale, to Ponyville, to Manehatten, hay even to Canterlot! The explosion from the sound barrier ended up causing Twilight's magic levels to go crazy (Swift: It's over 9000!) as well as guiding Applejack back home, giving Fluttershy a reason to be able to communicate with animals and showing Pinkie Pie a reason to keep smiling. It also broke this rock full of gems that Rarity's magic guided her to. And when she first saw it she thought rocks were her destiny! But then the explosion shook the rock, and there were her gems and her cutie mark!"

"So you helped your friends get their cutie marks without realising it? As well as your own?"

"Yep!"

Despite already seeing the Cutie Mark Chronicles episode of the show, Swift can't help but feel great respect for this rainbow maned pony. He decides to playfully ruffle her mane on the head while saying "Yep, because RD is just that awesome! Brining friends together before they even met! She loves her friends really. She's just too proud to admit it!"

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – In the Mood for Mischief)

Rainbow blushes lightly then turns around to face Swift with an angry look on her face. Swift's face then turns to one of realisation then shoots off into the air with Rainbow Dash chasing after him.

"YOU COME BACK HERE AND TAKE THAT BACK!"

"NEVAAAARRR!"

This leaves everyone else (including the dragon) laughing hard at the banter between these two recent friends as Dash continues chasing after him and shouting unintelligible things at him.

Applejack, after managing to stop laughing, commented "Y'all would think that they'd known each other since they were foals!"

Everyone there (A/N I'm saying everyone now since there are dragons present and saying "everypony" would be very...you know...correct.) nods their heads in agreement.

(THUMP)

(CRASH)

(K.O!)

"Ooowww...I'm okay...I think. Agh...Rainbow Dash wins! Friendship!"

And with that, Swift is unconscious...

Dash grins sheepishly. "Oops. Heh. Sorry about that, Swift."

Bass grins at this. "Finally it isn't me that goes unconscious all the time."

Rainbow Dash turns to Bass with a light scowl. "From what I hear, you've only been unconscious once."

"Yeah, me nose still bloody hurts as well."

"This is the second time I've seen Swift unconscious. And both times I seem to have caused them. The first time I was racing him and I pushed him too far. Plus he got stung by like 100 of those weird bees that make you go unconscious for a few minutes. He managed to do that Azure Bolt thing right before he went unconscious. I mean seriously the blue and yellow trail followed him right down. And before you is the second time."

…

…

They hear something odd. Snoring. And it seems to be coming from the crater that Swift caused. Bass laughs at this and retorts "Or he's just really tired."

He jumps into the crater and slides down to where Swift lies. And stamps his back hooves down on a certain place...eeyup. That one. You can imagine the reaction.

"ARRRGH! RIGHT IN THE 'NADS! THE PUNISHMENT THEY ARE TAKING ON THIS TRIP IS...IS...ARRRRGH! BASS! YOU ARE A CRAFTY BASTARD!"

-5 minutes later-

Swift's excruciating pain has subsided so he decides to talk to the dragon, who quite enjoyed the "entertainment" as he called it.

"So what's your name?"

"I don't have one."

This causes a "WHAT?!" from everyone there.

"Yeah, I was either called "Wimpy" or "That One Dragon Who Thinks Like A Puny Pony"."

…

…

Bass breaks this silence. "Me back hurts as well."

Applejack shakes her head in amusement at Bass's commenting then turns to the dragon. "Well, y'all want us ta give ya a name?"

"Hmmm. I suppose. Hey, blue boy!"

Swift, while hanging upside down in the air, turns his head to the dragon. "Yus?"

"What was that name you called me when I scared you earlier?"

"Uhhhhhhh. Rayquaza?"

This floors Bass and Heart as they struggle to stop laughing their heads off.

Ignoring the both of them, the dragon nods at this name. "I like it! I don't know why but it sounds...awesome. Huh. I've never used that word before!"

Rainbow flies up to the newly christened Rayquaza and holds out her hoof. "Welcome to the team, Ray!"

Rayquaza chuckles and carefully shakes her hoof with his claw.

Everyone smiles at this display of friendship. And today they learn that friends come in all shapes and sizes.

Bass continues smiling. But then he glances up at the sky and his face immediately falls.

"Um, guys? I hate to be "That guy" but what the smeg is that?!"

Everybody looks up to the skies and sees about 10 darkly coloured pegasi staring down at them with not-so-friendly looks on their faces.

(BGM: Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) – Tension...Silver appears)

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Fluttershy immediately recognise them.

"Shadow Bolts!"

The leader speaks up. "I hope you enjoyed your little game of resistance. Unfortunately. That game is over. Come quietly or we'll have to resort to a game of ugliness."


	11. Weird Dreams

_**Elements Lost and Found **_

_**Chapter 11: Weird Dreams**_

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – Land of the Dinosaurs)

Swift is stood there actually shaking at the sight. "...Shit. We've been discovered."

Applejack turns to him. "Really? Ya think(?)"

Fluttershy is stood next to Swift, shaking as well. "I was afraid of this happening. Why now?"

Rainbow Dash looks like she is about to spring into action, but as she starts to move, a voice stops her. "No, Dash! Don't!" It's Swift.

Rainbow Dash raises an eyebrow. "And why not?"

Swift's expression turns to a mix of seriousness and concern. "Rushing into things isn't the best way to go. Look! We're outnumbered! We'll find a way out of this mess. Just don't do something stupid, okay?"

Rainbow Dash begrudgingly agrees and calms down. "Fine."

"Silly ponies. You already have a way out."

All ponies and Spike: "Huh?"

The newly named Rayquaza rises up from his slump, easily towering over the Shadowbolts who are currently frozen looking at the dragon.

(BGM: Pokemon Anime – Guide)

Rayquaza glares at the frozen Shadowbolts and gives them a sort-of-evil grin. "I suppose you dark ponies know what happens next, don't you?"

The leader of this group of Shadowbolts shakes his head. "N-n-n-n-no, sir."

"Well that's too bad for you. Because these ponies are my friends. And they're under MY protection!"

Swift's eyes suddenly get misty. "And many manly tears were shed that day."

Bass, Spike, Soarin and Big Mac, also misty-eyed, nod their heads in agreement.

Rayquaza suddenly lets out a deafening roar in the face of the leader, making the group shudder even more.

The big dragon inhales deeply, then shoots out a huge stream of fire at the Shadowbolts.

Swift and Dash both look on in awe. "Woah, nice!" They bump hooves after saying this. Swift then dons the same pair of shades he used the other day.

As soon as the fire's cleared up, the Shadowbolts are nowhere to be found.

After lifting her jaw from the ground, Pinkie speaks up. "Woah, that was a neat trick! Now where did they go? Are they playing hide and seek?! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I'm next!"

Swift shoots her a WTF look before shaking his head. "He just killed those ponies. Holy crap!"

Rayquaza shakes his own head. "They were merely manifestations."

"What?"

Cadance steps forward. "Manifestations. Of Nightmare Moon's darkness."

Everypony (Hey!) and Spike are pretty much silent at this point, until Swift breaks the silence with an "Oh."

"So what now?" Bass says while eating a piece of apple pie that he'd brought with him.

Swift does a double take at the piece of pie. "Where the smeg did you ke- Uh, you know what? Never mind, I'm done making sense today." THUMP!

With that he is asleep on the ground where he stood seconds before.

Rainbow Dash giggles at the misfortune of Swift.

Bass walks up to Swift with a smirk on his face. "Want me to kick him in the na-"

"No need, Treble. We just need to get him back to Manehatten. Everypony else will be wanting to know how we went in our searches. They will be pleased to know that we have yet Fluttershy back to normal now." Fluttershy flinches as the mention of her name.

Rayquaza lowers his back. "Everypony who cannot fly get on my back. I'll help you get back there."

"Can we make a quick stop at my cottage, please? Angel's probably worried about me." Fluutershy asks...shyly.

Rayquaza raises an eyebrow. "Angel?"

Fluttershy nods her head. "My bunny friend. He can be very protective of me. And how I've been over the past few weeks has probably been worrying him sick."

Bass whispers to Heart "Probably because it might have been interfering in his dinnertime."

This comment makes Heart stifle a laugh.

Rayquaza nods. "Very well. I will wait for you. But don't be too long. There's no telling What you may encounter."

Rainbow Dash thinks. "So let's see. How are we gonna get in and out of the cottage without getting caught."

Applejack answers. "We probably won't get caught. We could be in and out before you could say "Apple fritters"."

-5 minutes later-

(BGM: Sonic Adventure 2 – The Base)

The group (minus Rayquaza for size reasons and Swift because he's asleep) are being quiet on their hooves so that they can make it out of there in without getting caught.

Bass whispers to the rest of the group. "I'm pretty sure that large fire show would have woken somepony up."

AJ throws Bass a glare.

Bass reels a bit. "I'm just saying that we should just focus on being quick and not try to be absolutely quiet because this whole trip has been noisy."

AJ gives him another glare. "Bass, if you don't stop tryna' jinx it..."

"I'm not trying to jinx it!"

Cadance cuts them both off. "No. Bass's right. We have to be ready for anything."

AJ sighs. "Ah'm sorry, Bass."

"Nah it's fine. I'm used to it."

The group soon make it to Fluttershy's cottege, with Heart dragging Swift along with her magic while Swift mumbles something about curry.

Fluttershy let's everyone else in before walking in herself. Bass looks around in admiration. "Nice place you've got here!"

Fluttershy blushes a bit. "Th-thank you."

Angel then hops downstairs and widens his eyes. Not at all the ponies in the house, but at the sight of Fluttershy being back to her old self. He immediately rushes over to her and hugs her.

Everyone there – including Bass, let's out an "Aw" at this.

But then Pinkie yawns loudly.

Followed by everypony else.

"I think everypony really needs some sleep." Cadance jokes.

"I'd be happy for everypony to rest here. I don't think Angel would mind either. Do you An-" However, she looks around and sees the bunny on her back, sound asleep. "..gel?"

Soarin laughs a little at this. "Looks like the little guy is tuckered out." He yawns promptly. "Same as the rest of us."

Heart turns to Cadance. "How long should we sleep for? I mean we could get visited by -"

She is cut off by Rainbow Dash. "Please don't say something like that. We don't want it jinxing."

"I say six hours. It's plenty of time to rest up."

Bass grabs his phone out. "Okay I'll set the alarm. Huh. That's odd."

Heart turns her head to him. "Hm?"

"I've got a message. And here I thought we couldn't get a signal."

"Well what does it say?"

"_Don't give up my little ponies. You will prevail. I don't doubt any of you. And to Swift Wind, Treble Bass and Heart Container, I hope you won't be too surprised._

_Signed_

_A friend."_

(BGM: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 – I Saw Something Again...)

..

…

"Well that's good to know. Even if it's through I text and I don't know who it's from I know I can trust this...person/pony/guy/girl – I dont know."

Heart nods. "Well that's good enough for me."

"Anyway, I'll set the alarm."

Rainbow Dash remembered something. "Wait a minute. Somebody needs to let the dragon know we'll be staying here for the night."

Spike puts his hand up. "Want me to do it?"

Bass turns his head to Spike. "It's up to you, mate. Just be careful about it though."

Cadance steps forward. "In the mean time we'll be getting the sleeping arrangements sorted."

"Okay."

And with that, Spike runs out the front door and heads towards the Everfree Forest.

-5 minutes later-

Everypony has set up their sleeping bags on the floor. Spike comes back from letting Rayquaza know about staying at Fluttershy's cottage.

"He said he'd be staying close by and he'd try not to disturb anything. If there was anything we needed from him all we need to do is shout."

Pinkie smiled a REALLY big smile. "Well that's nice of big Mr. Dragon. Especially since I can do a REAAAALLY big shout. I mean, I know I'm not supposed to shout since we'd end up causing such a ruckus, but -"

"Okay, we get it, Pinkie. Sheesh." Applejack says, rolling her eyes.

Swift was jammed into a sleeping bag by Heart, who cursed the fact that it was really difficult as Swift fidgeted while she was doing so. _"C'mon, you stupid bugger." _ She thought.

"Sorry if it isn't much, Princess Cadance."

"It's alright, Fluttershy. I've been camping before. It was actually quite fun!" She reminisced while smiling.

Fluttershy smiles back, glad that the Princess was happy with the sleeping arrangements.

And within 5 minutes, everyone was asleep (aside from Swift, who, as we have already established, is already asleep.

(DREAM SEQUENCE)

The dream shows a filly Rainbow Dash and another pegasus. A colt that has the same colour scheme as Swift. They are currently flying across Cloudsdale in the daylight. It looks like they are both locked in a race. And by the looks of it, Rainbow Dash has already got her cutie mark. But the colt hasn't. As soon as they cross the finish line, which Fluttershy had kindly set up for them, it ends in a draw.

They both land in front of Fluttershy, panting after that big race they both had.

"Next time, Dashie, I WILL beat you!"

"Hah! In your dreams, blue! This tie was just luck on your side! Besides, when I join the Wonderbolts when I'm older, you'll be sooo jealous!"

"As if! Why would I want to join the Wonderbolts anyway? I'd be just as happy flying in my own free will! Besides, hanging with my friends is all I need to be happy!"

"Heh! You're alright, blue. Next time, don't hold back and neither will I!"

The dream skips forward to where Rainbow Dash and the colt are practising flying moves, except every time it was the colt's turn, he'd just shoot downwards at top speed, only to be shot back up from the massive wall of air that forms around him while going at top speed.

After his 10th attempt and before he tries to start his 11th, Rainbow Dash stops him with a concerned look on her face.

"Blue, what is it you're trying to do?"

"That move I saw you do. I want to see if I can do something like it. I haven't gotten my cutie mark yet."

"Well with the way you're flying down, you're not gonna manage it like that. You're holding out your hooves to the side as if you're skydiving. What you need to do is keep your hooves straight in front of you, that way you'll be more aerodynamic."

"Aerody-what now?"

"It means you'll go faster."

"Oh. Right." He puts his front hooves in front of him in the same style as the Rainbow Dash of today when she does the Sonic Rainboom. "Like that?"

"Exactly like that!"

He pumps his right hoof in the air. "Awesome!"

So after Rainbow Dash finishes her practise of her move, the colt prepares to dive one more time. He goes to the highest cloud and then jumps off, does a few flips then dives right down into a nosedive.

"Okay, just like Dash said. Hooves in front, total concentration. Gotta do this."

The mach cone forms around him. He's about to give in and let the wind throw him into the air, but he hears Dash shouting. "COME ON! YOU CAN DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU!"

This gives the colt a renewed confidence. The confidence he needs to actually do this. His concentration is more focused on getting this trick right. He manages it.

He breaks the barrier.

And the wind that blows in his mane is a great feeling to him.

Rainbow Dash is cheering really loudly at the accomplishment her friend has pulled off. "HE DID IT! WOOOOOO! YEAH! OH, AWESOME! TOTALLY AWESOME! Hey, what the..."

The colt looks back at the wave and smiles at its awesomeness and...blueness. But he sees something very peculiar. Electricity. Not a lot. But it's still slightly visible. He grins at his new move. He then sighs and looks forward. Forward in time to notice that he's going to crash.

"Oh, no!"

Rainbow Dash's face falls as well. "Oh, no. Nonononononono!" She shoots down after him. Hold on, Blue! Imma comin'!"

(BGM: Sonic Colours – Terminal Velocity Act 2)

The colt starts flapping his wings the other way to get himself to stop. As he flaps his wings downwards, the wind on the ground picks up and starts to increase, blowing a lot of trees and also ponies' hats evetywhere. He slows down and wodn until coming to a complete stop just above the ground.

"Whew. That was a close one."

He looks around at the area surrounding him. "Woah. Looks like Fluttershy was right. The ground DOES look nice." He notices the damage done to the trees and sees the ponies staring at him with an amazed look. Some of course are glaring at him for blowing their hats off. "Sorry everypony. Still some things I need to learn to control." The ponies still stand there continuing to stare at him.

"What?"

He looks to his flank and he sees it. A cutie mark. More specifically what looks like a few gusts of wind with bolts of electricity. At this point Rainbow Dash lands besides him. "Blue! You okay?!" She notices the cutie mark. "Woah, dude! You got your cutie mark!"

He forms a small smile on his face. "Yeah...I guess I did. Thanks for helping me do this Dash. I couldn't have gotten this without you."

They bump hooves.

"It's no problem Swift."

(END DREAM SEQUENCE)

Swift wakes up with a sleepy and confused look on his face. He shakes his head. "What the smeggin' heck was that?!"

He looks around and sees himself in Fluttershy's cottage.

"And just what the smeg am I doing here?"


	12. Generosity in the Wind

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 12: Generosity in the Wind**_

"_Okay then dream has to be the most realistic one I've had so far. But how can it be real? I didn't grow up in Cloudsdale, and I CERTAINLY didn't know Rainbow Dash personally up until a few days ago...right? Right?! Ugh. I need something to drink. And no not alcohol. I don't feel like drinking any alcohol right now. Especially after the other night. I I honestly felt like ass when I woke up after that night. _

He looks over to Rainbow Dash, who looks like she's fidgeting in her sleep.

"_Heh. Looks like I'm not the only one that fidgets. I wonder what Rainbow Dash is dreaming about right now? Probably about her dream to join the Wonderbolts. Always going on about them Wonderbolts. Also I wonder what Heart and Bass are dreaming about."_

He looks over to Heart, who looks like she's content sleeping. And then he looks over to Bass, who looks like he's...

"_Headbanging in his sleep? Okay that's too weird."_

_Your friends..._

"_Hm?"_

_I have the ability to look into the dreams of ponies who are sleeping._

"_Princess Luna?"_

(BGM: Pokemon Anime – Eterna Woods)

_Hello again, Swift. I trust you are well?_

"_Eeh, not bad. That dream kinda caught me off guard. You did see that right?"_

_Yes I did. Your friends...they're having similar dreams to what you just experienced._

"_Good luck to 'em then. Wait. When you say friends, do you mean..."_

_Heart and Bass._

"_Hm. If they are having dreams similar to mine, I wonder who it is that they're dreaming about. I mean fair enough I had a largely realistic dream, but Heart and Bass are experiencing the same thing? Come on, even I find that slightly weird."_

"(Yawn) Hey, Swift. You awake?"

Swift's ear instantly perks in the direction of the voice. He turns around and sees Rainbow Dash waking up still looking sleepy. Swift chuckles a bit.

"Good morning, RD. Sleep well?"

"Oh shut up."

Swift's grin goes a little wider and he laughs even more. "I take that as a no then."

"Ugh, I don't wanna talk about it." Dash says still groggily.

"Eh, I didn't exactly have the best sleep either. Too many things running around in my head at once."

"Oh? What happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Hehe. Now the ball's in the other park."

His face goes flat. "Oh, hardey har har(!) Whatever, I'm gonna go get a drink. That weird ream I had really gave me a thirst. Waking up in a different place than I slept didn't help much either.."

"I think I'm gonna join you on that one."

They walk into the kitchen and check out what's in the fridge. They settle on some apple juice that Fluttershy got from Applejack while they were still under Nightmare Moon's influence. After pouring his glass, Swift downs the whole thing in one.

"Woah. Kinda thirsty there weren't you?"

"You don't know the half of it, spectrum."

"Remember that race me and you had the first time we met?"

"Yeah what about it? I fell unconscious and you carried me home. Never got to properly thank you for that."

"...Okay then. Here's the deal. We'll both down our next glasses. If you can down yours and I can't, we say you win. If I can down mine but you can't. We say I win. If we both manage to down our glasses, we call it a draw until further notice. Same goes for if neither of us manage to."

Swift contemplates this for a second then nods. "Okay then. But you still need to down your first one first. It'd be kinda unfair since I've clenched my thirst and you haven't."

After Swift says this, Dash looks on in defeat. "Darnit."

So Dash downs her first glass of apple juice then pours herself a new glass. But not before letting out a small burp. Swift starts chuckling. "Hehe. Better out than in, Dash! (BURP) Oop. Excuse me."

Dash laughs at the return fire belch. Swift laughing along with her.

"Okay then. On my 3, we down these beasts."

"Okay then, Swift. On your call."

"1...2..."

Suddenly they here a weird riff of music coming from the other room. What it is is lost on Dash but Swift recognises it as Heat Man's theme from Megaman 2.

"Dammit! Ah, we'll have to settle this next time."

Rainbow Dash nods. "Deal." They bump hooves and head into the other room where the rest are sleeping. Swift smirks to himself.

"Ah, the sound of chiptune in the morning."

-10 minutes later-

Everyone is all awake and sorted. The sleeping bags have been packed away and the gang are heading out very soon.

Swift, though is still thinking about his dream last night. "I can't wait until it's all sorted out and I have my answers. This is gonna be buggin' me."

"So this is the plan, we sneak out of here and head towards Rayquaza. He can get anypony who can't fly back to Manehatten. If any more Shadowbolts attack us, me and Heart can use our attack spells to keep them at bay, should they manage to get past Rayquaza's line of fire." Cadance goes through the plan with the rest of the group."

Big Mac raises his hoof. "But what about tha pegasi?"

"They will be distracting the Shadowbolts while we fire our spells at them."

"Cadance has been teaching me quite a few spells!" Heart says while smiling proudly.

"Uh, Shy, me and Swift kinda broke into your apple juice while you guys were asleep. We had some really weird dreams and needed a drink."

"_She had a weird dream too? Okay that's...well, weird."_

"No it's okay, Rainbow Dash. After all if you needed a drink, you needed a drink, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"You know what? I'm gonna go outside and see if everything's safe, alright?"

"Be careful, Swift." This is Dash saying that.

"_Wow. Rainbow Dash showing concern? That's not like her."_

"Don't you worry your spectrum mane off about me, I'll be fine."

This makes Rainbow Dash reel a bit. Luckily nopony notices.

The gang are quiet while the Swift checks outside. They hear him mumbling a bit.

"Hm. Nothing over here...nothing over there...hm. Right then I think I'd better...Oh crap."

The rest of the ponies' heads shoot up at this. "Heyyyy there. Can I...help you with something? What are you doing? No, no, no, no, NO NOOOOoooo...!"

(CRASH!)

With this the rest of the ponies plus Spike rush outside and see a jet black coated pony with a dark green mane. But the ponies certainly recognise the cutie mark on this pony. What looks like 3 gemstones. The Element of Generosity.

Pinkie speaks up for the first time in a while (seriously).

"Rarity?"

Rarity stops scowling at the ponies that stand in front of the cottage and turns her face towards what looked like small crash site. After the dust clears, Swift is clearly visible, looking a little worse for wear with quite a few cuts and bruises but still moving (albeit struggling to do so.)

Heart, Bass and Dash's eyes all widen.

"Swift!"

"Oh, shit, mate, you alright?"

"No! Swift!"

Rarity moves towards the site. "You! If you value your nicely coloured but messy mane, I suggest you come quietly or I will not go the slightest bit easy on you!"

Just before she approaches Swift, Heart teleports in front of him.

"In your dreams."

(BGM: Super Street Fighter IV – Cammy Theme)

Heart fires off a powerful stream of magic with the attack spell, causing Rarity to fly back a few yards.

Rarity gets back up runs towards Heart intending to use physical force to bring these ponies to Nightmare Moon.

But as she takes a leap towards Heart, the latter takes hold of the temporarily flying pony with telekinesis...

"Wrong move, No-clarity."

She slams Rarity on the ground and then throws her back a few more yards...to the same place she landed last time.

Rarity struggles to get up, but she does so eventually. She gives Heart a dirty look. "How...dare you!"

Heart's face turns to a smirk. "Yeah. I dare. I really dare. Now fucking stay down until we have you regular again."

Rarity's face then turns to one of confusion. "Regular? Whatever do you mean _"Regular?"_"

"White coat? Purple mane? Loving sister? Great friends?! Yeah I think that just about covers it."

"Lo..ving sister? Fri-friends?" Memories start coming back to her like a Zerg Rush. "Sweetie Belle...Twilight...Fluttershy...Applejack...Opal.. ."

"...Uh...Opal...the fluffy white...(Cough) …..cat who...(cough, cough) acts like...she has some sort of...(cough) anger problem?"

Dash and Bass are beside Swift in a flash. Now that they can get a better look at the site, a few trees have been knocked down and a small crater surrounds him. "Easy there, Blue. You have friends."

"Yes...I believe so."

At that point, Rarity's old colours come sparkling back to her like the other 4 that are restored. She smiles. "Thank you. Whoever you are, thank you. And...I'm sorry. Ever so sorry."

Heart's face turns to one of relief. "I'm sorry too. Sorry I had to resort to violence. Honestly I'd never done that before. That's actually the first time I'd gone that far. I'll forgive you if you forgive me. Deal?" She holds out her hoof for Rarity to shake. "Friends?"

Rarity gladly accepts. "Friends."

Swift smiles weakly at the display of friendship before him, glad that for now, they're okay. He tries to get up, catching the attention of the rest of the ponies.

"...Oh...great...mission a..(cough)..ccomplished, now...let's all have a drink to...cele-"

He falls back down, beginning to lose consciousness.

Before slipping in completely, he hears a mixture of his friends' voices, but the ones who sound more worried are Heart, who presumibly is the one galloping over, Bass, Rainbow Dash and Cadance.

"_...Rainbow...Dash...we have...no...connection other than...being fast. What is going...on..."_

And he slips completely into unconsciousness.


	13. Friendship is Truly Magic Pt 1

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 13: Friendship is Truly Magic Pt. 1**_

"_Uh...Oh, ow. I ache everywhere. I think Rarity did a good number on me. That's for sure. Oh, no I hope everypony isn't too worried about me. Although I think I did level some trees during that impact."_

_Lewis..._

"_...Huh? Hello?"_

_Or should I say...Swift Wind._

"_No one's used the full version for days. I vaguely recognise the voice but right now, all I see is darkness."_

The voice giggles. _I apologise. Let me take care of that._

Suddenly all Swift sees is a bright light. But that's only because his eyes need to get used to said light. Anyway, as his eyes adjust to the light he sees a silhouette in the middle of it.

"_Who...?"_

The silhouette is a very tall alicorn, taller than Princesses Cadance and Luna.

"_Wait a minute...it can't be..."_

The silhouette takes a few steps forward and reveals itself as...

"_...Princess...Celestia?"_

(Meanwhile, in Fluttershy's cottage)

"I feel utterly dreadful about this."

Cadance throws a smile over to Rarity in an attempt to cheer her up.

"You mustn't blame yourself. You were under Nightmare Moon's brainwash spell."

"Yes but I'm not normally that violent. Not without very good reason."

Bass, who's slumped on a bean bag on the floor, speaks up. "Fluttershy commandeered a dragon in her dark form you know."

"Is this true, darling?"

"Y-yes. It's true."

Bass nods and continues. "Yeah. He has a cutie mark and now he's friends with us."

Rarity brings a hoof to her face in what is presumed to be shock. "Well that's...unusual."

Bass chuckles. "Yeah. Spike gets along well with him, being a fellow dragon. They're actually outside trading stories right now. I'm pretty sure he was slightly shook up with what just happened so he's taking time to unwind right now. I'm pretty sure everypony kind of needs a good break. We've all been on edge recently and the last time we took a break was a couple of nights ago when we went into a club. Pinkie showed up then, still dark but that soon changed when she saw the fun. She was partying with us like there was no tomorrow. Oh wait a minute, that was kind of a bad choice of words considering...yeah."

(Back inside Swift's mind)

(BGM: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky – Hidden Land)

_Yes Swift. I am Princess Celestia._

"_Butbutbutbutbut..."_

The princess chuckles at this. _How are you feeling?_

"_Like a thousand trains hit me a hundred miles per hour, thanks for asking princess."_

_Don't over exaggerate, Swift. That's Rarity's job._

"_But what's going on here now? Me and my friends get sucked up by a pink portal that appeared out of nowhere, the EXACT day after having a strangely dream about these EXACT events, we're the ones who are helping the Elements turn back to normal like it's our JOB, and we're the ones who are getting contacted by the two rulers of Equestria! What I want to know is, why us?! Why specifically us?! We are – or rather WERE – just ordinary teenagers attending college and eating chips at lunchtime on our breaks! I'm not a hero, I'm just a hopeless bastard who has weird luck. Excuse the language."_

Princess Celestia's face turns stern. _Swift, you have some wonderful friends who, as you have seen earlier, will protect you as you have done them since you arrived here. Even before you arrived here you were enjoying your life. You've been able to get through to the rest of the Elements so far, thought I admit Pinkie was a fluke and the method of getting Applejack back was kind of...brutal._

"_That was Rainbow Dash that did that."_

_Yet it was your method to begin with. You thought it up and she trusted you that it would work. Because you have the uncanny ability to make friends of even the most unlikely of ponies, or as you say, "people."_

Swift chuckles at this.

_You shouldn't feel so down on yourself. You have a fantastic life, have great friends, you were just finishing your course after working so hard on that project of yours. You can't say you're nothing special when everypony and everybody is special in their own ways. And now look at you. Making FRIENDS like it's your job. You, Bass and Heart. The latter of which you have to thank when you wake up._

"_Oh, yeah. She saved me. Is she okay?"_

_She's fine, Swift. All you need to worry about is getting better._

"_Speaking of, what's the damage report?"_

Celestia chuckles again. _Your wings are okay, if that's what you're asking. There's some damage to your torso though. You need plenty of rest. But you can wake up though. Your friends need to know you're okay._

"_Am I able to?"_

_Yes._

"_Well then. Allons-y."_

_And one more thing before you do._

"_Yes?"_

_Welcome back._

"_(Sigh). Is anypony gonna tell me what that means?"_

_You and your friends will find out soon enough._

"_And the question of how you know about my college course?"_

_Darn, I thought you'd missed that._

"_Hehehe.."_

_Well you'll find out about that too. That and the reason behind your dreams._

"_Ah ha! So there is some meaning behind these weird dreams!"_

_I've said to much. I'll see you soon._

"_(Sigh). Well it's time to open these eyes."_

_You do know who the last of the elements you have to get to normal is right?_

"_Yes. Your student. Twilight Sparkle."_

(Back in Fluttershy's cottage)

Swift, right now is in an unconscious state on Fluttershy's couch. The five of the Mane Six that are restored, Cadance, Heart, Bass and Spike are the only ones still there. The rest of the ponies had decided to go back to Manehatten and rest up there. Rayquaza kindly offered to take them back just in case of the Shadowbolts.

Swift then stirs for a few minutes, catching the attention of the rest of the ponies. "Is he coming to?" Bass asks.

"Uhhhhhh..."

Rainbow Dash's ears perk up. "Blue?"

Heart cocks her head to the side. "You okay, Swift?"

"Uhhhhh...Ow. I think...I think my head hurts..."

Bass chuckles. "Ever the subtle one, eh, mate?"

"You know it...heh. I'm surprised you didn't give me a surprise groin shot to wake me up!"

"Well I would have but Heart and Cadance stopped me."

"Hehe. Well, who could blame them. That would be "kicking them while they're down" taken literally! Hey, did my phone get damaged in the impact?"

Bass shakes his head. "Nah, remember? You left it in here and if the coast was clear, you were gonna pick it up before we left."

"Speaking of, how long have I been out for?"

The ponies in the room suddenly seem hesitant and a mixture of "Ahhh"s and "Uum"s fill the room. But Spike simply says "Two days." The rest of the ponies glare at him. "What? He needed to know!"

Swift just sits there shocked for a couple of minutes then speaks up. "Bass. Next time I'm like that, please stomp on my groin like your life depends on it." He turns to Rarity. "And don't spend the next hour apologising, please. It won't do either of us much good. Just remind me not to get on your bad side in the future."

Rarity giggles. "I'll make sure of that."

The rest of the ponies stay silent for a few seconds until Pinkie breaks the silence. "So what now?"

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – The Light that Blurs the Temple)

Swift attempts to get up. "Simple...we get...to the library...and we get...your friend...Twilight Sparkle back."

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on top of him to keep him down. "No, Blue. You're not in any condition to do anything like that. I mean if Rarity could do this to you, who knows what Twilight could do?"

"But.."

"No buts, Swift. You're staying here."

"Dash, I made a promise from the beginning of this that I'd see this through to the end. Now I know you care and you're too proud to admit it but I need to do this. I need to be there for my friends...just like they've been there for me. You're not leaving me out of this. And nothing you can say will convince me otherwise. I'm sorry, Dash. I know your heart's in the right place but...this is something I need to do a well."

"Heh. Guess there are some ponies out there that can be as stubborn as me."

"Well I know a lot worse, believe me. So anyway..."

He gets up and off the couch. He stretches his wings and breathes a sigh of relief. He does the same with his front and back legs.

"...let's grab the elements and we'll be off!"

"You sure yer feelin' okay, sugacube?" Bet you can guess who says this.

"Yeah, just a little stiff that's all. Comes with being out for two days. Though it is the first time it's happened to me." He spreads his wings and flaps them rapidly a few times to make a point.

The ponies can't seem to argue and so they grab the elements and head out, with Cadance taking the lead.

(BGM: Pokemon XD Gale Of Darkness – Shadow Pokemon Factory)

They walk out of sight of Fluttershy's cottage. Swift looks back, stares at the general direction of the cottage, then turns his head the right way. He gulps deeply. "Through to the end."

As they pass the schoolhouse, Bass looks on in a mix of interest and wonder. "Wow. It's weird seeing a school at night."

Swift agrees with this. "Yeah. When I was younger, I used to think that the teachers slept in school."

Heart chuckles "Well say that were true, they wouldn't have been able to say much to us for sleeping in school when they'd do the exact same thing!" She jokes, eliciting a chuckle from the rest of the pony group.

After having that little laugh, Cadance notices where they are.

"Okay, everyone. We're here. Golden Oaks Library."

Spike looks on fondness... "Wow. I haven't seen this place since...eh, I don't want to think about it.I just want Twilight back."

Rarity nods in sympathy. "We all do Spike. But we need to stick together."

Swift looks on. "Wow. Looks like nopony's home...do we knock?"

Rainbow Dash shakes her head. "We need to go in there. If only to at least wait for her. I'll go first, just in case. She nudges the door slightly and it opens with a creak. This legitly creeps out everypony else there.

"(sigh) You ponies. Sheesh." She rolls her eyes and walks in.

The main room is empty. "Twilight's usually in here studying. But then again, Twilight IS corrputed by Nightmare Moon sooooo I can't really say anything right now." She turns towards the door she walked through. "Hey, guys you can come in, the coast is..." The door take on a purple aura and slams shut, scaring the crap out of Rainbow Dash and making her recoil.

(BGM: Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) – Tension... Silver appears)

"Huh?"

"Hello, Rainbow Dash."

"No way..."

"Yes way."

She turns around to see a glow at the top of the stairs. Generating that glow is a unicorn pony who has a jet black mane with a single streak of white down the middle of it. But the strange thing is the coat is...purple. It's Twilight Sparkle!

Rainbow Dash can only imagine what Rarity would say to the odd colour scheme. _"Darling, those colours simply do not match!"_

Twilight's horn glows even brighter. "Sorry Rainbow Dash. But you betrayed Nightmare Moon. You're first."


	14. Friendship is Truly Magic Pt 2

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 14: Friendship is Truly Magic Pt. 2**_

_**(Previously, on Elements Lost and Found...)**_

_She turns around to see a glow at the top of the stairs. Generating that glow is a unicorn pony who has a jet black mane with a single streak of white down the middle of it. But the strange thing is the coat is...purple. It's Twilight Sparkle! _

_Rainbow Dash can only imagine what Rarity would say to the odd colour scheme. "Darling, those colours simply do not match!"_

_Twilight's horn glows even brighter. "Sorry Rainbow Dash. But you betrayed Nightmare Moon. You're first."_

_**(Now, the quest continues...)**_

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – Abort Mission)

Rainbow Dash stands there with a rare tearful look on her face. "Twi...why are you doing this?"

Twilight's face turns cold. "Do NOT call me Twi, Rainbow Dash..."

Dash's face turns to one of determination and anger. "And why not?! I've called it you hundreds of times before. And so have the others!"

"Shut UP! Enough! You betrayed Nightmare Moon so this is something that needs to be done. So settle down so I can make this quick!"

"NO! This is stupid, Twilight! Stupid and you know it! So just quit this stupid thing and make it better on both of us!"

…

…

…

"Is that a threat?"

"WHAT?! No, no, no, no, I'm not threatening you..."

(Outside)

Pinkie is doing her usual overdramatic panicking. Rarity has fainted due to shock, Fluttershy is on the ground, shivering and Applejack is chasing Pinkie and doing her best to try and calm her down. While this is happening, Spike is trying to wrench the door open and Cadance, Swift, Bass and Heart are stood in awe of what happened.

They're silent until Swift, Bass and Heart simultaneously chorus "Oh shit."

Swift turns to Cadance. "You think that was..."

Cadance only stands there and nods.

"Oh, shit. Dash!"

Spike suddenly shouts at everypony to be quiet. "I can hear arguing in there...and it sounds intense. Come on, Rainbow you need to be able to convince her."

Just as he says that, the door bursts open due to a stream of magic. Rainbow comes shooting out of there pushed back by a stream of magic...headed for the nearest tree.

Swift immediately sets into action. "No you don't!"

Dash braces for impact but in fact the impact is cushioned. "I'VE GOT YOU!" (crash) "ARGH!"

After recovering, she resumes flying and looks back to see Swift nearly crushed into the tree. "Dash...I think my back hurts...uh...You okay?" He falls out of the dent he made in the tree and falls flat on the ground, nearly unconscious. "Heh...deja vu..."

(BGM: Naruto – Glued State)

Everypony else looks to the library and sees Twilight appear outside. She sees Rainbow Dash standing in front of Swift as if to protect him from further harm. "Hmph. Pathetic. He only prolonged it. So, Dashie..." Her horn starts to glow bright again. Rainbow looks at Twilight with a look of determination and fear.

Everypony shouts at her. "TWILIGHT, NO!"

"...Like I said. You're first. I'm sorry. But it's over. If only you hadn't interfered."

She lets loose the powerful attack spell.

Dash braces for the attack spell to hit. But nothing comes...again. She hears another shout of pain. "ARRGGHHHHHHHH!"

(BGM: Doctor Who – The Clouds Pass)

She opens her eyes and sees the battered blue pony she was previously protecting struggling against the blast.

"...Ng...Twilight! If anyone should be punished for interfering in Nightmare Moon's rule, it should be me! And only me! Leave these ponies out of it! And deal with me!"

The rest of the ponies shout at him. "Swift, no!"

Twilight keeps up the blast. "Why are you still standing against this?! How?! Doesn't it hurt you?!"

Swift growls. "Of course it does! You think it doesn't?!"

"Well, I-I just thought, with the way you're standing up to this spell that you're..."

"I'm what? Completely immortal to this sort of thing?! The sole reason I'm able to stand up to you right here, right now, is because you THREATENED MY FRIENDS! You were going to kill them! I'll tell you something! I bet if you were your famous old self again I bet you wouldn't stoop to that sort of thing! I dare say, Twilight Sparkle that you've lost your touch! And keep this up and you'll lose your friends as well! And believe me when I say that losing friends is NOT NICE! NOT NICE AT ALL!"

Spike runs up and jumps on Twilight's back and immediately hugs her with tears in his eyes. "Twi...think about it. Think about what you're doing. This is against who you were before. Remember the dragon up in the mountains? You scolded Rainbow Dash because she immediately went up and kicked him in the face. All you wanted to do was talk to him. And now look! You're relentlessly blasting a pegasus with an attack spell because he protected one of YOUR friends. OUR friends. Rainbow Dash of all. The one who helped all of you get your cutie marks!"

(BGM change: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 – Memories Restored)

Rarity chips in her two bits. "If it wasn't for you, Twilight, we wouldn't have even met each other."

Pinkie steps forward. "You've helped all of us since we first met you Twilight. The same as we helped you."

"All the good times we've had so far, sugarcube, we've owed them all to you."

"Through all the things we've been through so far, we've all been able to stay friends. And it's all because of you."

At this point tears are streaming down Twilight's face. And Swift is currently shaking. "I'm...kinda losing...the feeling...in my entire body here."

Rainbow Dash turns to Cadance. "You have the tiara?"

Cadance understands what she means and walks up to Twilight. She pulls out the element of magic's tiara which resembles Twilight's cutie mark. "Twilight, I've known you since you were a filly, and it hurts me to see you like this. I'm sure your brother would feel the same."

Twilight finally stops her spell, letting Swift collapse onto the ground in a messy heap. The rest of the ponies gather round the unconscious pegasus. Pinkie's mane deflates. "Is he...is he gonna be okay?"

Applejack takes her hat off. "Ah don't know, sugacube...but ah sure hope so."

"The darling has taken a lot of punishment over the past few days. It's probably exhaustion."

"We could have easily jumped out of the way of that blast. But instead he jumped in front of meand took it himself. I feel so guilty. Wait a minute..."

(FLASHBACK)

_"Woah. Kinda thirsty there weren't you?"_

_"You don't know the half of it, spectrum."_

_"Remember that race me and you had the first time we met?"_

_"Yeah what about it? I fell unconscious and you carried me home. Never got to properly thank you for that."_

…_.properly thank you for that."_

_...thank you for that."_

(END FLASHBACK)

"...Oh."

Rarity cocks her head in confusion at Dash's sudden pause. "Oh?"

"On the same morning we ran into you, we decided to have a little drinking game."

Rarity frowns disapprovingly.

"We used apple juice."

"Oh, okay."

"So anyway, at the beginnign it was just gonna be getting a simple drink to clench our thirst but after seeing Swift down his drink I couldn't resist challenging him to a drinking challenge."

"What were the conditions?"

"We had a race a few days before that but we didn't get to finish it."

"So you decided that..."

"Whichever one of us couldn't down a glass had to concede defeat as the loser of that race."

"But Rainbow, wasn't the whole reason of you not being able to finish the race because of those bees?"

"Yeah that was the cause. Anyway, while I was issuing him that challenge, he said that he never had the chance to thank me for saving him from falling then."

"Ooh."

"...Yeaaahhh."

(With Cadance and Twilight)

"Twily, look at your friends."

She does so and sees them gathered round the pony she heavily weakened.

"They look so...sad."

"Yes, they are sad, Twilight. Not only because of the state Swift is in, but because their dear friend has done this to them. After Rarity damaged him two days ago, he did forgive her. And he will most likely will forgive you as well. But your friends want you back, Twilight. I know it isn't easy to tell but they're emotionally broken without you."

(BGM: Doctor Who - Vale)

…

…

"What am I doing?"

"Hm?"

"What did I become?"

"Twilight..."

"What did Nightmare Moon do to me?!"

Twilight breaks down sobbing heavily on the ground. The rest of the ponies rush over to her and hug her tightly.

"(sniff) I'm...I'm sorry for all this...I feel like...such a monster right now. I don't know if there's anyway in which you guys might forgive me...But know this...I'll do anything I can to make things right...starting with..."

Her horn glows very brightly, as does her mane and tail. She first levitates her element out of Cadance's magical hold and onto her own head. She then aims her horn towards Swift and shoots a bright beam of magic towards him. It surrounds him, making him levitate and glow very brightly as well. All of his scuffs, bruises and wounds heal up. All the other ponies and Spike stand there in awe. And this continues on for about a minute before the light dies down. Twilight's mane is back to its old purple and pink streaked colour scheme. And Swift's body looks like there's barely even a scratch on there.

Twilight then collapses onto one knee. "(pant) There...(pant) It's...(pant) done. I...hope...that's enough."

"Ooh! Squeaky clean!"

Their heads shoot up and see Swift standing up, like he'd just had a good night's sleep. He looks over to the tree that he crashed into earlier. "Ooh. Sorry, tree. That'll buff out, just you wait. You'll be back to your old tree glory soon, pal."

Twilight turns to Heart. "Is he always like this?"

Heart nods. "I don't get it either. But he's still a good pony to get on with."

Twilight breaks free from the hug and approaches Swift, who now looks deep in thought about something.

"Um, Swift, right?"

"Hm?" He turns around to see Twilight approaching him. He smiles a genuine smile. "Oh, hello!"

She certainly wasn't expecting this. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because you healed me that's why."

"How did you know it was-"

"Your horn was glowing when I woke up."

"Yeah but knowing I was responsible for putting you in that state in the first place-"

"Stop right there, Twilight. That wasn't your fault."

"Yeah but it-"

"That was Nightmare Moon's fault to begin with. Just like this whole mess right here. We told the same to the others when we got them to normal. So like them there's no harm done..." He puts a hoof on her shoulder and smiles "...Okay?"

Twilight cheers up and smiles as well. "Okay."

Bass raises a hoof, to which Swift points to him and says. "And we'll take a question from the cream coloured earth pony over there. Can I get a question from you, sir?"

Bass nods and asks. "So we're all good?"

Swift nods. "Yes, Bass, we're all good."

Pinkie immediately shouts. "Group hug!"

Cadance cocks her head to the side. "All of us?"

Rainbow Dash nods. "Yep. All of us."

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – A Tranquil Wind)

The ponies get together for a group hug. Bass is a bit hesitant at first because he was always in the past seen as the sort of non gushy type if you catch my drift. But in the end he joins in as well. And he finds he quite likes it!

During the hug, Rainbow Dash says quietly to Swift. "I honestly thought we'd lost you for a few moments there. Thanks for saving me there, Swift."

Swift smiles and says back. "Just returning the favour Dash. It's like I said, I hadn't got a chance to thank you properly."

The group hug breaks off. "Soooo, what now?" Twilight asks, hoping for answer that involves getting some much needed sleep.

Cadance smiles. "How about we all sleep for the night in the Library? And tomorrow we'll go back to Manehatten and let the rest of the ponies know that we're all alright."

Swift yawns. "Ah, sounds good to me. It's been a little...hectic today and sleep would be an absolute blessing..." He falls on the ground, snoring soundly asleep.

The rest of the ponies laugh and then walk through the library door, while Bass drags Swift by the tail. Spike is the last one through the door, but he looks closely at the door and realisation dawns upon him. "Hey, wait a minute. This door isn't supposed to open that way!"


	15. Relaxation and Familiarities

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 15: Relaxation and Familiarities**_

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – Take It Easy)

Everything in the library is quiet now. Fluttershy, Heart and Twilight headed off to the cottage to fetch all the sleeping bags for the ponies to use. So in other words...everypony is asleep in their sleeping bags.

(DREAM SEQUENCE- SWIFT)

_Hello again, Swift Wind._

"_Hm? Princess Luna?"_

_Yes. I have to say, you were a little reckless today._

"_Well I needed to protect Rainbow Dash. Twilight almost had her."_

_Hm. Yes. But while it it was a very brave thing for you to do, it really took a toll on you. Had Twilight not have used that healing spell on you, you would have..._

"_Hm? Would have what, Princess?"_

…_.._

"_Tell me, what would I have done?!"_

…_.You would have died, Swift._

"_...No.."_

_Yes. You were very lucky that they managed to get Twilight back to normal before that happened._

"_...How long would I have had?"_

_A few hours...at most._

"_Ooh. Well I guess I was lucky then. Really lucky..."_

_You should be thankful for the selfless nature of the Elements._

"_And Twilight should be thankful I'm so forgiving...I'm sorry. That was out of line."_

_(Chuckles) Well I suppose it isn't the best news, is it? Finding out you nearly died._

"_You got that right. I've done some crazy stuff in my life and that was by far the craziest."_

_Well hang tough, Swift. Your journey is almost over. And also, if you feel you need to fight Nightmare Moon, don't worry. She picked the wrong Luna._

"_Huh? What's that mean?_

_So Bass hasn't told you?_

"_Told me what?"_

_When news of Nightmare Moon's return reached the castle, I told Tia to perform a duplication spell on me. And you know what they say: "You can't beat the original!"_

"_Well...I just don't know what to say!"_

_But even then don't take her lightly. She is still very powerful. But don't worry, you will prevail on this quest. And at the end of it, a choice will present itself. And it will be tough._

"_Hm. I can already guess what that choice is."_

_But it will be harder than you think it will._

"_What's that supposed to...It isn't to do with those weird dreams I've been having is it?_

…

"_Is it?!"_

_(END DREAM SEQUENCE)_

Swift wakes up in a sweat, breathing heavily. "Was that a dream? Or was it a nightmare? Well finding out you nearly died isn't exactly a nice dream is it? And what did she mean by "_But it will be harder than you think it will."_? Uh...I need some fresh air..."

He walks out the front door and decides to make his way up to the balcony. But upon seeing the balcony he sees Twilight there, looking out towards Canterlot. She looks deep in thought. Swift then decides to land on a nearby branch.

"Hey."

Twilight looks towards the voice to see Swift relaxing on the branch next to the balcony.

"...Hey."

"You okay? You look like you've got a lot on your mind. Not surprising really, considering the current situation. It'll all be over soon though. THAT you can be sure of!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"You really wanna know?"

"Yes. Tell me."

"(Sigh) Well I've been visited by Princess Luna a few times during this whole thing. Aaaaand she's given us some helpful guidance. Turns out the Luna Nightmare Moon possessed was in fact a duplicate."

"What?!"

"Yeah, She told Celestia to do some sort of duplication spell on her. The real one's in hiding God knows where, and the duplicate...well you can probably figure it out."

Twilight is again deep in thought trying to process this news.

"But she did say that while Nightmare Moon isn't as powerful as before, don't take her lightly. She's still powerful. I mean look what she managed to do! I'm surprised there's still plant life about! Last I checked they need the sun to stay..."

"Somepony must have put a spell on Equestria for the plant life to stay."

"But who?"

They both think for a minute before coming to a realisation. They both shout at the same time "Princess Celestia!"

They both then put their hooves over their mouths. "I think we were a bit too loud then..."

"Yeah. I hope we haven't woke anypony up."

"Yeah. And we know how grumpy Rainbow Dash gets if somepony interrupts her naps."

"Tell me about it..."

They both share a laugh.

"So Luna said anything else?"

"Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about it. It'd only end up making you feel worse than you did earlier."

"Please tell me. You just saying that right now has already started to make me feel bad."

"Me and my big mouth. Apparently if you hadn't used that healing spell when you did, I would have only been alive for a few hours more..."

Twilight gasps and immediately tears up at this news. "S-swift...I'm s-so sorry. I couldn't d-do anything until.."

"Twilight...I was the one who jumped right in its path like the idiot I am."

"I-I know but..."

Before she could say anything else he wraps a wing around her in comfort.

"If it would have been anypony's fault, it would have been mine or Nightmare Moon's." He chuckles a bit before continuing. "Speaking of, she's the next and last on our list."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that this is all nearly over. Constant night, this adventure and..."

"...And what?"

"...Never mind. How long have I been asleep?"

"Uh, about 7 hours."

"Ah. Good sleep then." He stretches his wings and flaps them rapidly a few times, generating a bit of wind. When finished he looks at Twilight and sees her mane messed up a little bit. The best part is that she's unaware of her mane being messed up. Swift can't help but chuckle.

"What? What are you laughing at?"

He laughs harder at Twilight's cluelessness with tears coming out of his eyes. (A/N Twilight's mane is more or less the same as when Rainbow Dash messed it up in the first episode.)

She pulls up a mirror to see what the whole fuss is about and when she sees her mane she rolls her eyes. "Gee. You and Dash are alike in more ways than one..."

Swift just sits there continuing laughing and holding his sides. "Ohhh...hang n, hang on this is just too hilarious..." He pulls out his phone and takes picture of the messy mane. "Theeerree we go...Ow my jaw hurts right about now..." He still can't stop the laughing.

"Alright alright it wasn't that funny..." She pulls out a hair comb and straightens out her mane back to the way it was. "There. No more laughing.

Swift does his best to calm himself down. His breathing slows down back to normal. "Sorry about that. I'm very easily amused."

She rolls her eyes at that. "I can see that..."

Swift deadpans then goes back to relaxing on the branch. That's when he hears it.

"_CALL 911 NOOWW"_

Swift stumbles at the sudden shout and the wubs that came after it. "WOAH SHIT WOAH SHIT WOAH SHIT!"

He regains his balance and has a look of "Not again" on his face.

But then he hears Pinkie's voice say "Oops! Silly me!"

"What was that?!" Twilight asks with a confused look on her face.

"Dubstep, Twilight. Fucking dubstep. At the worst of times as well. When the rest are sleeping. Sounds like Pinkie got ahold of Bass's iPod. Does she have no self control?"

"Not really, Swift. Come on, the rest are probably up and holding their heads."

"I FEEL like holding my head. Got any paracetamol?"

"Huh?"

"(sigh) Headache medicine."

"Oh. Yeah I have some in the kitchen cabinet."

"Good. Thanks. Head still hurts from earlier..."

-Half an hour later-

Everypony plus Spike has calmed down from the wubby experience. Swift is relaxing up top on one of the support beams playing a quick session of Sonic Dash, Bass is putting a lock on his iPod in case of future infiltration and Heart is taking her headache medicine after the incident.

"It's a good thing we're the only ones in Ponyville right now. Or we'd have angry villagers knocking and complaining. That's the last thing we need right now. Hey didn't we say we were gonna go back to Manehatten after getting some rest?"

After taking the medicine Heart looks up to where Swift is relaxing. "Be patient, Swift, we've only just woken up! And can I just ask?"

"Ask what?"

"Why is Rainbow Dash lied asleep with her head resting on your stretched out lap?"

His face turns to one of confusion. "Huh?" He then feels something fidget near the bottom halves of his hind legs and his eyes widen. He slowly looks over and sees Dash fast asleep with, like Heart said, her head resting cosily on the bottom halves of his lap. His eyes widen even more and he even blushes as he quickly pulls his legs out from under Dash's head. This causes Dash to bump her head on the support beam and jolt awake!

"HUH?! WHO'S THERE! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

She quickly turns her head all over before looking towards Swift, who is currently sat with a surprised expression and light red tint on his face and looks like he's keeping his hind legs to himself.

"Comfy there, Rainbow Dash?"

Her face comes to one of realisation and she looks away quickly, with a flustered and embarassed expression on her own face and even a bright pink tint of her own. "Oh! Uhh, sorry, Swift..still a little tired I suppose. I woke up so sudden before and I guess I-"

Swift chuckles a little bit before interrupting. "Alright, alright, Spectrum. No need to get all flustered. Just glad to know my hind legs are good for more than standing on. And surprisingly comfy! Hehe."

Rainbow Dash giggles slightly at the interrupting comment. _"Man, why does he remind me so much of somepony?"_

Swift goes back to leaning his head back on the vertical support beam whilefetching out his 3DS from his bag. "May as well kill some more time until everypony's set to go." _"Okay, why the smeg __did that feel...strangely familiar? And why do I have to wait to know? Ugh, I feel dizzy again..."_

Swift suddenly stops rummaging through his bag and his head literally falls inside it unconscious...again.

(DREAM(?))

(BGM: Doctor Who Series 5 – Can I Come With You?)

The dream sees the filly Rainbow Dash and the Swift-like colt walking through the Everfree Forest with camping supplies.

Rainbow Dash is lagging behind with a creeped out look on her face. Every time she hears a noise coming from the Forest she shoots her head in the direction it came from and she nearly jumps out of her coat.

"Spectrum, will you calm down? There's both of us here and we both know how to handle ourselves. So come on, we're almost there!"

Dash takes a big gulp, forces a fearless smirk on her face and carries on walking to catch up with the colt.

Soon they arrive at their chosen spot and set up camp. They are sat on separate logs and the colt is currently telling Rainbow Dash a scary story with a flashlight for effect.

"...And then..The Olden Pony asked.. "Who's got my rusty horseshoe?"..."

Rainbow Dash is currently sat there trying her best not falter as she looks around the general area of their campsite. As soon as she lays her eyes back to where the colt is sitting...he's no longer there. Scared, she starts shooting her head in different directions...every direction but right behind her..

She glances her head behind and the colt is there holding the flashlight with a mad look on his face, startling Dash even more. He points his hoof into Dash's face.

"IT WAS YOU!"

This makes Dash completely lose it and run straight into the tent. The colt then stands there and ponders what happened.

"Woah. I thought Dash was completely fearless. She helped me get the courage to fly fast enough to break the barrier and gain my cutie mark. Something I couldn't do before...I must have...Oh, no! Rainbow Dash!"

He runs after her into the tent and sees her sleeping bag lying there, shaking, meaning only one thing. Rainbow Dash is in the sleeping bag, shaking out of pure fear.

"Dash? I'm sorry for scaring you."

"I-i'm not scared!"

"Stop lying, Spectrum. I''ve known you for a while so I think I'd know. But I've never seen you like this before..."

Dash sticks her head out of the sleeping bag and the colt sees just how badly he scared her. He sighs.

"Know what, Rainbow Dash? I'm kind of scared of it too. Some ponies seem just more able to keep it hidden than others. Even now I feel kinda scared...heh. I'm even more scared seeing you like this! Geez I knew that it was scary. But I never knew it would scare you, Rainbow Dash! I mean I was kinda nervous when I first earned my cutie mark and you told me to shrug it off like it was nothing. I did." He looks at his flank. "And now I have this. I know this goes against everything you said but...sometimes...you gotta show a little emotion from time to time. I know it may seem like a good idea hiding your emotions but trust me. It just isn't good for you. Me and you Rainbow Dash we're best friends. I don't like it when you hide stuff from me. I know I'm not the best at comforting others, and you certainly remember me trying to comfort Fluttershy after Hoops and Dumbells picked on her for not being able to fly, but if there's one thing you can count on me for, Dash, is understanding. So you have every right to be scared of something. And that? That's understandable! A headless horse would pretty much freak me out too! But you know something? I bet we could take it on if we ever come across it. Like overcoming fears, but in a different way. Just don't be ashamed of showing your true self from time to time. Aaaanyway, before I get TOO gushy I think I'm gonna turn in for the night."

He zips up the tent and doesn't bother getting in his own sleeping bag. He pretty much zonks out right now top of it on his back.

-5 minutes later-

Rainbow Dash is still tossing and turning in her sleeping bag, trying to get to sleep. But she can't stop thinking about what the colt said.

"_Just don't be ashamed of showing your true self from time to time."_

She looks over at his sleeping form with wings spread out, taking advantage of this spacious tent that would hold more than the two of them. She smiles at his words earlier and begrudgingly admits how true he really was. She then gets up, takes her sleeping bag then places herself at the bottom of his sleeping bag. While getting herself comfy, her head cushions itself on the neon blue colt's lap and she instantly falls asleep with a happy smile on her face, but not before murmering "Goodnight Swift."

The colt opens his eyes slowly and sees Dash asleep on the bottom of his sleeping bag, fast asleep. At first he looks a bit befuddled but then he smiles and gently ruffles her mane so as to not wake her up. "Goodnight Rainbow Dash."

-The next morning-

The two had finished packing the tent away and they were heading back home. Rainbow Dash then stops suddenly, and the colt walks ahead a few steps before stopping himself.

"Swift. You were right. There is nothing to be ashamed of letting go of a few emotions once in a while. So I promise I'll try and do that more in the future, if you promise me you'll do the same."

He smiles at her feeling proud of his small achievement and nods. "I promise."

(END DREAM)

Whew. Sorry about the big delay. I was stuck for ideas on this chapter, plus I'm just finishing up this college year. But you're patience was rewarded and here it is. Also, I put in a little bit of fluff there. Hope it was okay...

Anyway, until next time, LATAH BRAHS!


	16. The Singing

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 16: The Singing**_

"Get me some water!"

"We're not shoving it down his throat! He could choke!"

"Giggity."

"Not now, Bass."

The ponies are running around frantic at what to do as Swift went unconscious just like that with no visible cause. Heart sighs and walks into the kitchen. She grabs a bucket and fills it with water then walks back into the main room. Then she sees Bass sneakily aiming to wake him up with a perfectly aimed nutshot. As she approaches him and starts tilting the pale over his head, Swift's right hind leg shoots up and nails Bass where it hurts, flooring him instantly. He then opens his eyes, grabs the pale of water then chugs half of it down. When the water is at the half way point he pours the rest over himself, waking himself up more.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh, does that feel refreshing or what..." He turns to Bass, who is still clutching his groin. "You alright there, Bass?"

"Yeah...just smarts a little."

"Thanks for the drink, Heart. That was refreshing."

Heart only shakes her head and smirks. "It's fine."

"Woah...just had another weird dream...been having many of those recently." Heart and Bass raise their heads and an eyebrow at this.

"What kind of dream?" Rainbow Dash asks curiously.

"Trust me, Spectrum. Both our heads would only end up aching if I explain it fully." Swift says bluntly with Heart and Bass shooting him a "You're telling me?" kind of look, though nopony notices it.

"_Spectrum?" _The others simultaneously wonder.

"Whatever, Blue. I'm still trying to gather my head around a few things myself."

"_Blue?" _The others again simultaneously wonder.

Swift flies back up to his bag which is perched on the support beam where he blacked out. He sees it still in the same place he left it.

"Yep. Flattened by my face. Lovely(!)"

He rummages through his bag and pulls out one of many bags of Skittles he has in there. "If you guys don't mind I'm gonna grab some fresh air and clear my head. Send somepony out to tell me when we set out will you?"

Twilight smiles and nods. "Will do!"

-Outside-

Swift lands on a branch, sighs and relaxes with his wings hanging off the branch. He puts in his earphones, opens his Skittles and puts on the song "Dear my Friend" by Brent Cash.

As the song starts he takes a few skittles out then eats them. He closes his eyes, thinks "Fuck it" and decides to sing softly to the song.

_Good times and bad times,  
I can count on being with you.  
I thank you for staying so true  
My life will go on a long time,  
Have to catch up when I see you  
And You are my reason I can make it through_

I will give my word that I will come in time to rescue  
My heart will always be with you  
I'm so glad I met you being with me wherever,  
We're made for each other forever

I know life can be tough on you time and time again  
laughter maybe gone 'way  
I will wipe away my tears to-morrow  
Life must go on, that's the reason that you travel away

I will be there if you need me  
And I know you'll do the same  
I can see you, I can hear you in my heart  
You will be here if I need you  
I will never have to guess  
'cause we are very special friends

-Inside-_  
_

Rainbow Dash is relaxing on the same support beam just staring at the ceiling when she can just hear the soft singing from outside. Her ears perk up as she's wondering if she's hearing things.__

Oh-Ah

"What the...is that who think it..."__

So send me a letter,  
let me know how you're doing.  
You are my lifetime and true friend.

"No way...guys, are you hearing this?!"

_We'll never be forgotten,  
having trust is all we may need_

Fluttershy looks up at her in concern. "Hearing what, Rainbow Dash?"

_You are always with me in the life I lead_

Rainbow Dash points her hoof towards the window where Swift flew out. "That...singing!"

Applejack shakes her head. "Ah don't hear no singing. Are you feelin' okay, Dash?"

_So far, far away from life I used to know_

She scowls at AJ then decides to peek her head out of the window to see where the singing is coming from.

_worries are too far, too  
I will stop and close my eyes remember  
And at the rainbow I can take you,  
I will catch it for you_

She carefully looks around, trying not to make any noise. She looks up on the roof and sees Swift with his eyes closed. And she could swear she sees tears in his eyes. Her eyes take to an expression of realisation. Swift is the one singing the song. She makes sure she stays hidden and continues to watch the scene__

Memories you can recall  
With me any time of day  
You can reach out  
you can ask me in your soul  
I will answer when you call me  
I will come no matter how  
Cause we are very special friends

Unaware of Rainbow Dash, her own tears start falling at the lyrics of the song.__

Just like a river that flows  
Just like stars in the dark night  
Lead me in the storm,  
Lead me in the dark  
You are the light of my life

She realises her tears and tries to fight them off with all she has, but ends up giving up. "Aw, who am I trying to kid..?"__

Oh

I will be there if you need me  
And I know you'll do the same  
I can see you, I can hear you in my heart  
You will be here if I need you  
I will never have to guess  
'cause we are very special friends

Memories you can recall  
With me any time of day  
You can reach out  
you can ask me in your soul  
I will answer when you call me  
I will come no matter how  
Cause we are very special friends

Oh-ah...  
Oh-ah...

As the song ends, Swift clears his throat, opens his eyes which twitch a few times and takes another few Skittles.

He then takes out his phone which had just finished playing song, looks at his reflection in the screen then chuckles.

"Wow I really got myself into a right state there didn't I? Brent Cash really known how to give one the feels..."

He takes another few Skittles and eats them and goes to choose another song. But then he hears a WOOSH kind of sound. He looks up and sees Rainbow Dash heading for the clouds in a hurry. He stays there in confusion before deciding to follow her.

-5 minutes later-

Swift is flying in the general direction where Dash came. He at first thinks about giving up, heading back to the library and waiting for her to come back. But then his ears perk up at the sound of sniffling.

He flies in the general direction of the sound and what he sees slightly shocks him.

Rainbow Dash is sat on the edge of a cloud crying quietly to herself.

"_Why does this seem like deja v-oh yeah...Well. May as well see I can assess this situation."_

Dash is sat on the cloud with her face in her hooves when she feels a wing wrap around her.

"Hello."

She looks up and sees Swift looking at her in concern.

"Are you alright? What was all that about? I was relaxing on the roof of the library and next thing I know I see you zooming off and landing here. Then I fly up and see you like this. Fair to say I am slightly shocked. And a slight bit hurt. But why did you fly all the way up here?"

"Why do you even care?"

"Because I just do. I've always cared about whether my friends are in distress and stuff like that. Trust me. You're no different. Look. Doing all this feeling better talk isn't my speciality. That's Heart's field of expertise. But the thing is..."

He thinks back to the dream he had while he was unconscious.

"...Locking it all away and keeping it held in for so long isn't exactly good for a pony. I should know."

Dash raises an eyebrow in interest.

(BGM: Transformers Cybertron – A Believing Heart)

"While I was in my early teens I was bullied left and right. Myself I didn't know why. All I know is that I couldn't stop it myself. I didn't even tell anyone. I told myself I'd try to put up with it and maybe it would stop. That they'd just give over. That went on for 5 long years."

Dash's expression softens.

"I didn't tell anyone. And sometimes it made me ill. It hurt so much. Thinking about it now, I feel like I was an absolute idiot for not telling anyone. Just before I finished school. Heart finally decided to confront me about it. And she wouldn't let me out of my room until I'd spilled the beans. So I went on about the whole bullying situation, how I felt sick and how much pain I went through. At the end tears were all a-flowing and Heart was so understanding about it. She didn't laugh or anything like that. If I had told my close friends about it beforehand I could have avoided the pain. But after I told Heart the whole story and I got rid of all those tears that had built up, I felt like tons of weight had been lifted of off my shoulders. I don't know how I'd have finished school if she hasn't cornered me like that."

A few more tears roll down his cheek, still not finished from earlier.

"From then on I was more open with my friends. I was more...happy. All that pain wasn't there any more and it was all because I'd told a close friend all about it. It had a release. I'd made new friends and there was no more bullying when I started at college. But there was still one thing still not right..."

"What was that?"

"...I felt like there was someone missing. Someone really important and to this day I still have trouble figuring it out. I don't know who it is. And what connection I had with them. My head even hurts sometimes still thinking about it. But the main point is that keeping in your emotions is not the best way to go. Let it out once in a while. Turn to your friends next time you're as sad as this, instead of just keeping it to yourself. Otherwise you'll end up like I was. Not the best way to be, I'll tell you that much. If something's troubling you, you should say something."

Rainbow Dash then closes her eyes and sighs. "I heard your singing."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. The words in that song just...got to me. More than things usually do. You're not the only one who's been having weird dreams recently."

Swift's turns his head to Dash in curiosity.

"I've been having dreams of this colt that I remember me and Shy hanging around with when we were still fillies. The most recent dream was a camping trip in the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy didn't wanna go since...well...you know what she's like."

"To each their own."

"Yeah. In my dreams though, it's like the colt was pure...black...I don't know. I just can't remember what he looked like. I can't remember his name. But the thing is though...it's been going on since I turned back to normal last week. Constant dreams. It's like they're flashbacks or memories. It's really weird. I can only remember his voice. Also...I remember I made a promise to this colt."

"What kind of promise?"

"Hilariously enough it was to show more emotion towards others if necessary. As long as he promised the same. Heh. What good I am at making promises, huh? I had to fly ALL the way up here and make the others worry about me just because I'm too worried about my own reputation to give a flying feathers about..."

"...Showing potential signs of weakness? Heh. I made that exact promise a long time ago to someone. Fat lot of good that did for me during school. Good thing I straightened myself out before leaving school. Things could have ended differently. Or worse."

"But the thing is about those dreams is that they felt so..."

"..Real?"

"Yeah. They felt like flashbacks. Like they actually happened."

_Nopony truly forgets, Swift._

"_This wait had better be worth it."_

_It will be._

"My dreams felt like that too, RD. Very realistic."

…

…

"Hey, I didn't know you could sing."

Swift deadpans at the sudden subject change while blushing slightly.

"The others heard it didn't they?"

"Not really. Then again I was sat on the support beam next to the window."

"Makes sense. Bass would be on my case about it non stop if he knew that was me singing. Especially that song."

"Why that song?"

"He's usually into that dubstep stuff that you usually hear at a night club that Vinyl Scratch DJs at. But once at college I caught him singing it while he thought he was alone and he kept pestering me into keeping it a secret even though I wasn't bothered! I tried convincing him it wasn't a big deal and to this day he's still embarrassed about it!"

He turns to Rainbow Dash and sees that she's trying to keep herself from laughing. Then a look of realisation dawns upon him. "And now I've just told you that secret!"

They both break down laughing and fall back in the cloud and this continues on for 5 minutes.

As they calm down, Rainbow Dash sits back up and wipes a tear off her face which came from laughing so hard. And then so does Swift. Dash turns to him.

"Swift?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Cheering me up. I wanted to try and cheer up by myself but I realise I couldn't have done it alone after all. You're awesome, Swift. And you're right. Being gushy isn't something to be ashamed of. Some of the time, anyway..."

Swift chuckles at the end sentence but then finds himself being wrapped in an unexpected hug by Rainbow Dash. He even sports a light pink tint at the hug. He accepts the hug and returns it with a smile.

"Anytime, Dash."

They stay like that for a few minutes then Swift hears his phone beep. Twice.

"Ugh. Hang on."

He reaches into his pocket and gets out his phone and reads the first text.

_I had a fear of hurdles once..._

He doesn't even finish reading the text because he already knows what it is.

"Screw you, Bass. May as well check out what the next text is..."

_Twilight says that we can't waste any more time and that we're heading out to Canterlot tomorrow. So we're staying here again._

"Oh."

"What is it?"

"We're heading out to Canterlot...tomorrow."

"So...we could be seeing the day again in the next few days?"

"Yep."

She then uncharacteristicly squeezes him in a death hug as she cheers.

"YEAAAHHH! AWWEESOOOMEE!"

"Rainbow...Dash...can't …...breathe...I..lack...air..."

She immediately breaks off and blushes a tiny bit.

"Dash, no offence but judging by that hug you can probably crush a bear with a hug given enough sugar."

She gives him a playful hoof punch in the shoulder. "Shut up."

They both share a chuckle then Swift suddenly has a thought. _"Does that mean...I'll be going back?"_

"Swift you okay?"

"Huh..? Yeah, I'm...I'm fine, Dash. Just thinking about something that's all. Come on, the others will be wondering where we are."

He turns and flies off the cloud back towards Ponyville. Dash stands there with a suspicious look on her face. But she shakes her head then flies after him.

**CHAPTER END**

Too emotional?

And also that song really does give one the feels. Honestly.

See you next time, brahs!


	17. Endgame Pt1

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 17: Endgame Pt. 1**_

_**Warning: Some characters might go slightly OOC in the last few chapters. Oh, yeah. That's right, we're in the closing chapters of the fanfic now! So brace yourselves!**_

(Back at the library..)

Fluttershy flies in through the same window Swift and Dash flew out of, and lands in front of everypony there.

"They're not there. I've checked all around the library and even Ponyville! Gosh I hope they're okay, wherever they are..."

"Come to think of it, I did see Rainbow Dash not looking herself before she shot off like that. Maybe Dashie got all sad from something and Swift went to see what's up?" Pinkie adds.

Applejack lets out a snort of laughter at Pinkie's claim. "Come on, Sugarcube. You should know Dash by now. Fluttershy is the only one she'd turn to with somethin' like that. And they've known each other since they were fillies! To the resta us she just keeps it all in ta herself. Ah keep tellin' her. It's not good fer her. But she never listens."

Rarity shakes her head at AJ. "Oh, come now, darling. That colt seems like a trustworthy pony who gets along with Rainbow Dash really well. Almost too well..."

Twilight sighs. "You know how stubborn Rainbow Dash is, Rarity. If she's got a problem she always tries to solve it herself."

At that moment Swift flies in through the window and lands next to where he left his stuff earlier. He sits down, saying nothing and carries on munching on his Skittles. Rainbow Dash flies in after.

"Hey, guys! Twilight says that we're going straight to Canterlot soon?"

"Uhhh, yeah. In about an hour...are you okay, Dash?"

"Yeah, I just let something get to me earlier that's all."

This shocks the rest of the ponies, including Spike, who spits out a gem he is eating.

"But I'm okay now. Good thing too. I don't wanna take down Nightmare Moon all sad."

The ponies give her an odd look before Twilight says "Okaaayy then.."

-An hour later-

(BGM: Megaman X5 – Zero Stage 1)

Twilight stands in front of everypony there who all seem to be paying attention.

"Okay everypony, we have all the Elements accounted for, so all we need to do now is head for Canterlot and defeat Nightmare Moon again just like the first time we met. I just hope we can get to the castle this time without getting caught like last time."

Applejack puts her hoof up. "Twi, last time we were caught off guard."

Rainbow Dash nods. "Besides, we have the Elements of Harmony! Nightmare Moon doesn't stand a chance against us now!"

"Even so, ponies we need to pay attention this time."

Rarity speaks up. "We were distracted last time because of everything that was going on, darling. There's really no need to panic this time. It isn't good for you."

Swift looks at her with a smirk on his face. "Rarity, say that attitude gets you caught again. Do you really want the "unstylish colours" on your mane again? Because it will happen you know!"

Rarity's eyes widen. "NO! I SAY LET'S GO AND DEFEAT THAT WITCH RIGHT NOW!"

She walks over to the door and open it with her magic, walking out.

The whole room is silent for a few seconds, then Swift shrugs, says "Well she doesn't waste any time." then goes to fly out.

"Hang on, Swift!"

Swift freezes in midair and turns around to see Twilight approaching him.

"Huh?"

"I talked it over with your friends before you and Rainbow Dash arrived back. I think you guys should stay here."

At that point Swift and Dash loudly chorused a "WHAT?!"

"I'm gonna be as polite as possible here Twilight but -ahem- ARE YOU INSANE?!"

Everypony in the room is taken back by Swift's outburst. Even Rarity, who previously walked outside, poked her head in the door to see what the commotion was.

"Without me, Bass and Heart you guys wouldn't be back to your normal selves! We basically saved all your manes and now you're saying you don't need our help anymore?!"

Twilight doesn't budge but she just sighs.

"It's true that you guys brought us back to sanity and we're all extremely grateful for that. But Nightmare Moon is extremely tricky, and dangerous. We're the ones who bear the Elements and we want to avoid you getting caught."

Swift just lands and looks down at the floor, the fringe of his mane covering his eyes.

Bass and Heart both walk forward with a sorrowful look on their faces. Heart speaks up.

"Swift I'm sorry that we agreed to this but I can kinda see what Twilight means. You've seen what Nightmare Moon can do already. She's still a powerful pony no matter if she took over a fake version of Princess Luna or not. I hate to say it but we'd be pretty useless if we went along with them."

Swift just stands there, shaking a little bit then lifts his face up, teary eyed and pleading expression, then looking to Rainbow Dash, hoping at least one of his friends would back him up on this one. Unfortunately for him she shakes her head at him.

(BGM: Fairy Tail – Main Theme -Slow Version-)

"Sorry, Blue, but I think she's right."

"Wh-what..?"

"I mean, we're the Elements of Harmony and we're the ones that have to do this. Like Twilight said, we don't want you guys getting caught, or hurt, or even worse...if that happened I doubt any of us would be able to forgive ourselves."

"W-we can handle ourselves. Heart took on Rarity herself when she was insane and Bass took down that dragon in one single fucking kick! I mean look at what happened when we first got to the library. You went in first and the door ended up being slammed shut. It was then wrenched open when you tried to persuade Twilight to come back to the good side again! Who stopped you from flying into the tree? Who was the one who managed to hold back that bigass fucking magic beam with nothing but his whole body to keep you alive?! Yeah, that's right! It was me! It was jolly ol'-"

"Well you could have died then!" She snaps back at him with tears in her eyes, shocking everypony else there. "I was lied there, not able to do anything because I was looking at you being slowly worn down by the magic! You were already roughed up enough from making that dent in the tree! This is gonna be the only time admitting this but..."

The ponies and Spike wait for Rainbow to finish her sentence, leaning forward in anticipation, with Pinkie Pie falling forward.

"...I was scared."

Everypony widen their eyes at this, but not more so than Swift.

"So I'm sorry. But this is how it has to be." She then hugs him tightly, shocking him slightly. But he then returns it. It carries on for a minute then she break it off. Swift then looks at her in seriousness...well as serious as he can be.

"Just do your best to be careful. I've heard how reckless you can be yourself." Dash can't help but smile at Swift's attempt at dry humour. "And besides, heh, you can't have a go at us when you kicked a dragon in the snout yourself."

"How did you know that?"

"Scootaloo."

"Oh."

They laugh like good friends again and then Swift puts his hoof on her shoulder.

"Like I said. Be careful. Or I won't be able to forgive MYself for actually being convinced to stay!"

They both chuckle again for a few seconds, looking right at each other's eyes for like 15 seconds. But then..

"Ahem!"

They both end up jumping with bright blushes on their faces. They look to the voices, which were the other 5 Elements, looking at them with half impatient, half amused looks on their faces.

"If y'all are finished we kinda need to get going?"

They both look at each other and have a good laugh with the blushes still adorning their faces.

"Take care, Dash. All of you. Take care of yourselves. I'm gonna take a quick nap. Hopefully when I wake up the sky'll have the sun in it. And it'll be blue. Heh. True blue."

He flies back up to the support beam and lies down using his bag as a pillow.

Twilight and the others then take that as their cue to walk out, with Rainbow Dash briefly stopping to look up at the support beam. She then sighs and trots on her way, following the rest of them.

~5 minutes later~

Swift is still trying to get some sleep, but is bothered by the argument that took place not 10 minutes ago.

"_That really is a side of Rainbow Dash I haven't ever seen. Buuut I guess some ponies really do have their hidden sides. Then again I've discovered a few things about myself that I didn't even know about myself. And I bet Bass and Heart have as well. Heh. I've really gotten used to calling them by those names. Guess what means I'll have to get used to calling them Danni and Peter when we get home. But...I'm not sure I really want to. But I can't make Bass and Heart stay here just because of me. That'd be just...wrong."_

_Your friends want to stay just as much as you do, young pegasus._

"_Princess Luna?"_

_They've had the same worries as you. And the same kind of dreams._

"_Princess Celestia?! Both of you?"(Swift)_

"_They...they have?"(Heart)_

"_What's going on here?!"(Bass)_

(BGM: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky – Fortune Ravine)

Swift can see that they're in some sort of purple void (think of the scene just before Twilight appears as an Alicorn in the S3 finale).

"_Would I be right in saying we're all in the same dream?" Swift inquires._

_C: Yes._

"_Well that explains this trippy background.." Bass comments._

"_Yeah. This place looks kinda like...meh, forget it." Heart dismisses while shrugging._

_L: You've all been having these strange dreams about ponies resembling yourselves interacting with the Elements correct?_

All three chorus a _"Yep" _then turn at each other in shock. _"You too?!"_

_Bass pipes up first. "Man, this is so weird! All this time I was getting paranoid about it, thinking "Why me?" when all along you two were going through the same thing!"_

_Heart agrees with him. "This is scary...but the thing is why is this happening to us? You two know where we come from because you've been appearing in our dreams since we first came here!"_

_Swift steps forward. "And why leave it for two weeks, even? I don't even know how the trees and plants have survived this long without the proper sunlight to do so! In fact, another week has past since then?"_

_L: To answer the second question first, I had to hide out for a while because I couldn't risk Nightmare Moon discovering me. She'd only abandon the duplicate and possess me instead. As soon as things settled down, for lack of a better term, I disguised my physical form and returned to Canterlot. I also put a magic veil over myself to decrease Nightmare's chances of detecting me to very low. If I had done so earlier, I probably wouldn't have been so lucky. There, I could re-establish a connection with Tia and figure out a way to bring you three here._

_C: We didn't think of it at first, but I remembered something that happened years before now. Three ponies, only foals, went missing. Magic fluctuation. The only reason we remember was because Luna was on the moon at the time and I...was the one who cast a spell to erase the memories of those who were close to them to help ease the pain...even their own parents. Anyway, back on topic, when this started and before Nightmare Moon imprisoned me, I cast a spell to increase the longevity of the plant life in Equestria until we came up with something._

_Swift pipes up. "Wait, you actually had no solution when all this first started?!"_

The royal princesses blush in embarrassment

_L: Well, heh, we were actually going to have me kidnap them and use a memory spell on them to bring them back._

Bass then decides to hum and beatbox the Mission Impossible theme while Swift does an impression of a criminal sneaking around, making Heart giggle at the two. The royal sisters watch the scene with partially amused expressions before continuing.

_C: But once we thought out every possible result of this action we decided to go with bringing you here._

"_But why us, though? And you still haven't told us why we're having those dreams?"_

The sisters look at one another before nodding and looking at the smaller ponies.

_C: I suppose we should spill it. Well like I said, the unexplained magic fluctuations ended up making three ponies disappear. And the memories of them had to be erased to ease the pain. Well after much studying and research, those magic fluctuations separated their essences from their bodies. And it sent those essences through some sort of wormhole. Into a different world, should I say? And they were reborn. Into new bodies. We're still trying to figure what caused these magic fluctuations though. And once we do..._

"_You're going to make sure it doesn't happen again?"_

_C:...Yes...Aaanyway, once we remembered the incident, we knew what to do. So Luna snuck into the library under the guise of Nightmare Moon and picked up a book written on dimensions by non other than Starswirl the Bearded._

"_So you brought us here and made us look like those three ponies if they were our age? I'll ask this again. Why us?" Swift asks, getting a little impatient._

_L: Because we didn't simply make you look like those ponies...you three ARE those ponies!_

The three smaller ponies reel back from the sudden shock and the new news.

_Heart: What..._

_Bass:...the..._

_Swift:...smeg?!_

_**CHAPTER END!**_

Eeyup! Well see ya next time for either the finale or penultimate chapter of Elements Lost and Found! And next time...blobs. That is all.

Laterz!


	18. Endgame Pt 2

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 18: Endgame Pt. 2**_

**Here it is! This is the penultimate chapter (by that I mean second to last but then you have the internet which can be used for looking up meanings of words) of Elements! Warning that this chapter has a a little crossover! But what it is, you'll find out while reading. **

_**CHAPTER START!**_

(3 hours later in Canterlot)

(BGM: Sonic Unleashed – Cool Edge Night)

The mane six themselves are trotting along Canterlot, trying not to make too much noise if they can help it.

Looking around now they've only just realised that things are starting to frost up because of the lack of heat. The only reason they've realised now is because it isn't as noticeable anywhere else because Canterlot is a high up place: on the side of a mountain.

"I really wish that I'd brought some scarves for this occasion. We were passing the boutique so I could have simply popped in and grabbed a few before coming here." Rarity complains.

AJ rolls her eyes. " You woulda' taken forever pickin' out those scarves anyway. So Ah say the quicker we finish this ting, the better."

Fluttershy, meanwhile is quickly whipping her head round at every single corner they get to, always thinking that something's going to pop out and get her at any second.

Pinkie notices this. "Fluttershy! Remember when we first met and you guys were all like scared because of big, nasty trees? I think a reprise of a certain song should do the trick to get a the ghosties out of your mind

She opens her mouth and takes a deep breath to start but is stopped.

"Pinkie!" This is from the other four.

"Huh?"

Twilight isn't exactly in the best of moods right now.

"Can you please not do that right now? We need to focus if we're gonna actually Beat Nightmare Moon once and for all."

"Yeah. And besides, we're being as quiet as possible so we should be okay. So try and do the same, Pinkie. Please?" Rainbow Dash actually pleads.

"Okie Doki Lokie!"

"Thank you."

They continue to trot on with Fluttershy still looking around in case something jumps out suddenly.

"I w-wish it wasn't this creepy a-around here..."

"This place does look a mess. As soon as we're done with this we are giving this place a good clean up. It really does need it." Rarity comments.

"Are ya sure this is gonna work? Ah mean what if we lose focus again, just like last time?"

Rainbow Dash smirks her usual cocky grin. "Relax, AJ. We have the Elements with us, this time! What could go wrong?"

_Oh, how kind of you to ask that, pegasus._

The ponies' eyes widen in shock.

"No..."

_I've been listening in this whole time since you set foot here again in Canterlot...whatever makes you think you can beat me like you did last time you bunch of foals?!_

"Bring it on! We're not afraid of you this time!" Rainbow Dash challenges.

_Oh, really? Take a look at your yellow friend and say that again._

She looks at Fluttershy who's on the ground, shaking and covering her face with her hooves.

"Oh..."

_Hahahahahahaa! Well then if all is said and done, I'll let my pet dispose of you!_

Twilight is confused. "Pet?"

_Yes. This pet is courtesy of the imagination of your pegasus friend, Swift. Him and his two friends are more different than you can imagine._

"What do you mean, "different" ?!" Rainbow Dash demands.

_It doesn't matter. Goodbye._

(BGM: Megaman X5 – Shadow Devil)

At that point, average sized black blobs appear from behind the mane six and start to merge together right in front of them. As they watch in a mixture of confusion and fear, as soon as the blobs have finished appearing, the fall onto the ground in a giant puddle. The ponies raise their eyebrows and Rainbow Dash even moves a little closer to try and get a good look.

"Sugarcube, are ya crazy?!"

Right as AJ scolds her friend the puddle immediately floats into the air as what looks like a giant bubble. A giant hand then shoots out from it, hitting Rainbow Dash and sending her tumbling back.

"Rainbow Dash!" Her friends chorus.

Dash lands behind her friends and they immediately rush to her side. But she gets up soon after, albeit struggling to. "I-I'm fine. Let's just beat whatever this thing is and get to the castle!"

The blob thing grows another arm which forms a pair of normal arms, a right and a left one. Th legs form after, letting the being land on the ground. Last of all, a single eye opens up in the middle of the main body.

"Bumo! Bumomomo!"

The ponies deadpan. "Come again?" Pinkie inquires.

(BGM: Megaman X5 – Boss Theme)

Rarity immediately acts on impulse and goes to attack its legs but her leg immeditately gets stuck oin the blobby substance this thing is made off and is sent catapulting back. But she lands on her feet, growling.

AJ then decides to go next, getting out her lasso and throwing it at the monster. At first it seems she's got it as the lasso wraps itself around it, but all it ends up doing is phasing through it and flopping uselessly on the ground. She looks up it sheepishly, but the monster just roars and shoots a few balls of energy at her, which she just manages to jump out of the way of.

"What tha hay was that? Was that magic?"

Twilight shakes her head while Fluttershy hides out of the way. "It's like no magic I've ever seen before...what is this thing supposed to be?!"

Pinkie scowls at the monster then pulls her party cannon out of nowhere. "Take this you meanie!" She fires it right in the monster's eye which sends it stumbling back. "I did it! I did it!" Pinkie shouts while jumping up and down, but the monster gathers its bearings and carries on like nothing happened. It goes to stomp on Pinkie but is pulled of the way in time by Twilight using her magic. Twilight then decides to aim her magic at the eye, charging up an attack spell. But the monster is quick on the draw and shoots another ball of energy at her. In a rush, Twilight lets loose the spell a little too soon and the resulting explosion blows Twilight back, slightly injured.

Rarity then decides to follow suit and aims a beam of magic at the beast's eye. But her fate is the same and is sent tumbling back and stops next to Twilight, also slightly worn out.

(With Swift, Heart and Bass, back at the library, before the fight)

The three ponies have woken up from their slumber and are still mulling over what had been said to them.

"So...all this time...I've been...a fucking pony?" Swift says to the other two.

"I know...you think you know yourself but then WHAM! The royal princesses hit you in the face with news so hard you feeling like shooting WKD out yer nose." Bass comments.

"It was nice of the princesses to give us our memories back." Heart states.

"Yeah, but the headache that comes from too much information crashing back at ya doesn't half hurt though. Especially when you see what kind of memories they are." Swift retorts.

All is silent for a few seconds but Heart adds "It's worth it though isn't it?"

Both Swift and Bass look and say "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. We would have gone the rest of our lives knowing about who were actually were. Living a lie, if you will. But now that this has happened, I'm kinda glad it did. We found old friends, learned a lot about ourselves and each other and most of all I feel like we grew closer as friends."

The other two nod and smile. Heart smirks, snickers and adds "And Lewi- I mean Swift might have finally got a girlfriend!"

Her and Bass laugh hard while Swift blushes wildly with his wings acting like crazy. "Well you...j-j...just shut up!"

Heart stops laughing and dons a genuine smile. "Well it's right. From what you told us I think it's safe to assume you and Rainbow Dash were really close as kids."

Swift sighs and rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I suppose so. It's funny isn't it? Growing up in Sheffield I never managed to get a girl to like me. And what happens when I come home to Equestria? I get one sleeping on me. I think it's clear. This pony body is more attractive than my human one."

Bass smirks. "You've only just realised that, have you?"

Swift smirks as well, trying not to laugh. "Yeah, even a pony is more attractive than me!"

All three laugh, unaware of what's going down in Canterlot right now.

Swift gets up and stretches. "Know what? I'm gonna go to the balcony, get some fresh air, you know?"

The other two nod as he makes his way to the balcony, sneaking a pair of binoculars up with him.

On the balcony, he breathes in and out with a smile on his face. But that smile soon turns into a frown as he sees a small explosion coming from Canterlot.

(BGM: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team – World Calamity)

"What the hell...?" He pulls the binoculars to his face and sees a big black blob with arms and legs and a single eye in the middle. Swift instantly recognises this monster.

"Uhhh, guys? I think you should see this!"

Heart and Bass come up to the balcony. He puts the binoculars over both their faces, and they recognise the thing immediately.

Heart looks on in concern. "Is...is that really..."

"Yeah. But what is it doing here? Isn't it meant to be...?"

"I dunno. Either you-know-who thought it up without knowing about it already, she brought it out of out imaginations or there's a REALLY big time paradox somewhere right about now."

"Yeah but think about it, we've been brought into the end of Season 1 so we don't really have any room to talk in that department."

Heart looks towards Swift. "We should have gone along. We know how to deal with this so we should be able to bring this thing down."

Swift looks back at Heart. "You know anything that might be able to go against this thing? You did study magic in Magic Kindergarten, remember? That's how you and Twi became great friends."

"Now that I think about it one of the main things I studied in the elemental department. Though I only managed to get two elements perfected. Before the incident."

"Which ones?"

"Thunder and ice."

"Well that should work.. Freezing the rest of the body then electrical magic right in the eye. See, got a plan all sorted out!"

Heart and Bass nod at each other then look to Swift. "Sooo...we go?"

Swift smirks and nods "We go."

(Canterlot, 15 minutes later)

The mane six are almost completely worn out, save for Fluttershy, who is too scared to repeat what she did with the dragon.

The monster walks up to Rainbow Dash, who is the most worn out of the six and lifts an arm up, ready to finish her off.

At that point, all of Rainbow Dash's life starts to flash before her life, recounting her best bits, including getting her cutie mark and doing the Sonic Rainboom, and some of them of her time with her friends as a foal, including that mystery colt that she keeps having dreams of.

"_The colt kept looking like some sort of silhouette before. But right now it looks so much clearer...I don't believe it. That colt...he looks like..."_

"SPEECTRUUUM!"

The six gather their energy to look up at the incoming voice.

(BGM: Fairy Tail – Main Theme Tenrou Island Version)

It's Swift, flying in at a high speed, carrying Heart on his back and Bass by the hooves and yet the mach cone is still forming around them, despite the heavy weight. He manages it, and the wave contains the pink and orange colours from Heart, the black and cream colours from Bass, and Swift's blue, cyan and yellow colours from Swift. This makes the six's collective jaws drop in awe at the sight.

"We pretty much called him and his friends "redundant" and they still came..." AJ gasps.

"They don't give up easily, do they?" Twilight wonders with a small smirk on her face.

"No...they don't...they came back..." Rainbow Dash looks up at them with a smirk and if one looks closer, a few tears of joy and relief.

Bass shouts up at Swift. "Mate, throw me as hard as you can straight towards it! You've already got the momentum!"

Swift looks down and nods, then gets ready to throw Bass. "Ready...aaaand...GO!"

He gives Bass his best throw and hits his mark, with Bass giving the monster his best punch yet right in the eye, making it stumble back a considerable amount. Bass bounces back and lands perfectly on his hooves in front of the mane six. Before the monster can recover, it gets shot by a fast burst of thunder based magic which makes it cry out in pain. Then lastly, Swift flies right in and rams into him at full speed, making the monster actually fall down and dissipate into the puddle form.

Swift and Heart land beside Bass, almost nonchalantly, Swift giving a grin and a chuckle.

"We'll handle things here. You need to go ahead and do your job, correct?"

The mane six find themselves able to get up, even if they struggle. Twilight steps forward "You guys...you came back for us? Even though we said we called you-"

Heart interrupts. "We know what you called us. And guess what? Sometimes it's kinda true!"

Bass adds "We know how to take care of this thing. If we're sometimes useless, this definitely isn't one of those times."

"Trust us. We know what we're doing. You guys go ahead and we'll take this guy on. K?" Swift finishes.

The elements mull it over for a moment then nod in agreement. "Be careful, darlings." Rarity warns them.

Swift rolls his eyes. "You know what they say: ladies first!"

The mane six chuckle at this and run past the puddle. Rainbow Dash, however, unexpectedly runs over to Swift, gives him the tiniest little peck on his cheek, which makes him hence forth and blush like a beet, then takes off with some sort of smile on her face, now knowing who that this is the same colt who she had a small crush on as a foal.

As the six run off towards the castle, Bass walks up to Swift with a small grin on his face. "Well well well!"

"Shut up, Bass. We've got work to do." Swift retorts, trying to fight off his blush.

(BGM: Sonic Rush Adventure – Deep Core)

The blob then floats back up as a bubble and reveals its eye again.

The three ponies chorus "Shadow Devil."

"Bumomomo! Bumomo!"

"Watch out, he's gonna do something!"

The Shadow Devil morphs into what looks like a machine with a skull and cogs on the top and spikes right underneath.

"Wily Machine 6!" Bass shouts.

The Shadow Devil shoots forward, catching Swift off guard and knocking him into a nearby wall. "UGH!"

Heart looks back at the wall he crashed into. "SWIFT!" She then shares the same fate as she's sent flying through some tables and chairs and into a different wall.

"No!"

He sees the Shadow Devil approaching him fast and prepares. But he sees the weakness, in other words, the eye, opening again, so he turns around and bucks with all his might, sending the Shadow Devil flying back and landing in a puddle again. It morphs back into its bipedal form and lets loose a barrage of small energy balls at Bass and they hit him, sending him back, hitting (guess what) a wall a nearly double the speed of the other two ponies.

"Ow..."

The Shadow Devil roars into the night sky as it appears he's victorious but he should think to look twice as Swift speeds out of the rubble and rams into his eye, sending a few sparks flying out of it. The monster still stands, but barely. Starting to get desperate, the Shadow Devil charges up what looks like a bigger shot. Swift's eyes widen as the monster lets loose a a beam of energy right at the small pony in front of it.

But Heart appears in front of him and shoots a beam of magic back at it. "Die laughing boy!"

(Canterlot castle)

(BGM: Pokemon Black and White – N's Castle)

"I don't quite approve of the design choices that Nightmare Moon has made in this castle. Ugh, has she ever even heard of the word stylish?!"

"Rarity, now isn't the time to complain about the design of the castle right now!" Twilight says, annoyed.

"What? I'm just saying that when all this is over, perhaps we can help restore this place to its former splendour?"

"Ugh, whatever, Rarity, I just wanna get this over with. The constant night is getting bo-ring!"

The six come to a window that looks out all over Canterlot and can faintly see the struggle the three ponies are in.

Rainbow Dash mutters to herself. "You told us to trust you...you said you knew what you were doing...right now I'm having a hard time believing all that...please come back safe Swift...I don't want to..."

"You alright there, sugarcube?"

"Huh? Yeah...I'm...I'm fine." She feels a hoof on her shoulder.

"Ya don't have ta hide it. We're friends, right? Ah know you're worried about the fella and his pals. Ah think the best thing we can do for them is just believe in 'em!"

Rainbow Dash puts on her best smile and nods at AJ. "Thanks, AJ. I needed that."

At that point an explosion rocks the place, which comes from the same place the struggle is taking place.

(BGM: Sonic Rush Adventure – Deep Core Allegro)

"Woah!"

"I felt the energy from that from here!"

"What was that?"

"It was huge..."

"Swift...I hope you're safe..."

"Come on, ponies! Let's get this done!"

"RIGHT!"

(Back with the three ponies)

The explosion blows, Swift, Heart and Bass back again, weakening them even more.

Swift puts one hoof on the ground, trying to get up. "Ugh...Come on, elements...we're holding him back as much as we can...(cough)...how long..."

Heart struggles as well, looking like she's dizzy. "Slowly...losing...energy...need...water..."

Bass gets up, holding his right front leg with his left one. "Ugh...I think I broke something..."

"That last hit is so out of reach right now...we need to act quickly...or it's game over for us..." Swift manages to barely stand.

"I've got an idea..." Heart mentions while standing up and gathering her bearings. "But it's a little risky."

"At this point I'll take anything that'll take this thing down.. If this thing takes us down first it could go after the girls...and we don't want that, do we?"

Heart shrugs. "Fair point. Now here's the plan..."

-A minute later-

"Oi, big lad!"

"Bumomo?"

The Shadow Devil sees Swift in the air on front of him doing all sorts of random shit while it looks on in confusion. While distracted, Bass runs up to the legs, bucking its right one with all he now has, throwing the Shadow Devil off balance. Swift takes this chance and flies circles around it, surrounding it in a tornado, immobilising it.

"BUMOMOMO!"

While the monster is immobilised, Heart charges up a lightning spell and lets loose with all of her remaining energy as the spell hits its mark.

"BUUMOMOMOOOO!"

It starts sparking like crazy and starts to break apart, making the ponies stand back.

"It's gonna blow!"

"Bumo...momomo..."

It explodes, sending the rest of the blobs flying everywhere.

(With the elements)

"That one was even bigger than the last!" Rainbow Dash exclaims.

"Well we're almost to the throne room. Stay alert, ponies!"

(Back with the other three)

(BGM: Megaman Maverick Hunter X – Zero's Sacrifice)

Swift, Heart and Bass are lying on the floor, all worn out and not able to move.

"All...those...players out there who...always died on that boss...and we beat it as ponies..." Swift strains out.

"That...was...amazing...yet I wouldn't...like to do...that...again..."

"It's all up...to the elements now...we've done our part..."

"Heh...y-yeah...go team..."

And with that, they all pass out at the same time.

_Mwahahahahahahaha..._

(With the elements)

"Okay, here we are."

They elements enter the throne room and to their disappointment, Nightmare Moon isn't there. Rainbow Dash visibly slumps to the floor. "Aw, great. All that for nothing.."

"Well how about we wait?" Fluttershy asks.

"Yeah. Then when Nightmare Moon gets back here, we're gonna kick her flank back to the...moon." Rainbow Dash threatens.

_Well I'm flattered that you'd do that for me but right now I just do not have the time..._

(BGM: Fairy Tail – Koori No Senjin)

"She's here! Where are you! Come out here so we can see you!" Twilight Sparkle challenges.

_Very well, ponies. If I must. But I've got something here I don't think you're gonna like!_

A dark mist appears all around the room which then starts to form right where the throne is. It takes the shape of a very tall mare. After about 10 seconds or so, the mist solidified into Nightmare Moon, who stood tall, laughing at the ponies that stand in front of her, still slightly exhausted from having to deal with the Shadow Devil before.

"So we're here again, same old, same old. So come on then, who's goin go try and take the first shot?" She challenges.

With this Rainbow Dash takes to the air and charges towards the dark mare, but Nightmare Moon has something else in mind.

"Uh, uh, uh!" She stops Rainbow Dash by lifting the unconscious body of Swift in front of her before she can reach her.

Dash's eyes widen at the sight of his bruised and battered body.

"No..." She starts to tear up at the sight.

Nightmare Moon only laughs at the sight and reveals Bass and Heart's bodies, also bruised and battered.

The ponies look on at the laughing mare in disgust. "I...never thought she'd go this far..." Twilight states in shock.

"So come on then! Make my day! Use those Elements of Harmony on me. See what happens now!"

The ponies scowl at her and each of the jewels begin to light up. A rainbow belt begins to form around the ponies, which seems to stop at Twilight's Element of magic. All their eyes light up and a a rainbow beam forms above them.

But then something unexpected happens. The rainbow beam dissipates and the floating ponies end up falling to the ground.

Nightmare Moon smirks at the failure. "But you can't do it, can you? Seeing your friends in this state, the ones you were supposed to protect in this state has broken your resolve! How does it feel that the only chance of reclaiming your princess and the day isn't working? But enough of that. If you feel like you can try again, come to the place you defeated me the first time and test your luck against me there. Ta-ta for now!"

She starts to disappear in the mist but Dash flies towards her. "Come back here!"

The rest of the ponies shout after her and run after her but they all end up getting teleported along with Nightmare Moon and the three beaten down ponies.

(Dream sequence?)

(BGM: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team – Benevolent Spirit)

_In times where the original six Elements won't succeed, only then will the three hidden ones reveal themselves and lend their power to the original ones._

"_Uh...What?"_

_C: Hello again, you three._

"_Princess?"_

_L: You three really ARE something special._

"_Scratch that. I definitely DID break something..." Bass strains out._

"_I could feel something while I was out...were those the Elements?" Swift inquires._

_C: Yes. But it appears seeing you three in your bad states made them lose a bit of their resolves. That made them think that it was because of them that you ended up like that._

"_That was our choice to make! We told them to go on to beat Nightmare Moon! If anything, we brought our states on ourselves!" Swift states_

"_Yeah! Too bad we can't do anything to help them. We're out for the count it looks like they're helpless. Too bad we couldn't do more." Heart complains with her ears drooped._

_L: Do you remember three certain events that happened since you made your return to Equestria?_

"_Events?"_

_C: Swift. Think back. When you said to everypony in the underground bunker in Manehatten that you'd get the elements back._

(FLASHBACK)

"_So tomorrow, we will pull of any insane stunt possible or necessary to get the Elements from that horror movie-esque castle in those woods."_

_(End flashback)_

_L: That was you saying that you'd retrieve the elements from Castle Eclipse doing anything you could. And what happened after?_

"_...The glow! Right after I said all that I was covered in that glow!"_

_C: Heart. You went into Spike's bedroom and let him tell you what was bothering him. He was very upset at the time. You told him to let it all out. You could sense how much he needed to tell somepony. The same with your friends after you'd done with Spike. They were feeling a little down as well. A little scared. You helped solve that too. And what happened afterwards?_

"_My glow!"_

_L: And you Bass. You've always known who to trust, haven't you? You always trust your instincts and they've always been right. _

"_Yeah, that's kinda true."_

_C: So you first...Bass, because of your constant trust of your friends, you earn the position of the bearer of the Element...of trust!_

A bright glow surrounds Bass and his mane starts going all wavy.

_L: Heart, you have proven worthy to be the bearer of the Element of...Compassion!_

Another bright glow surrounds Heart as her long mane goes wavy.

_C: And lastly, Swift Wind. The sacrifices you've made for your friends. For example when you told everypony to stay inside when the corrupted Rarity showed up. Or when you encountered Twilight Sparkle and you took the magic beam for her, nearly ending your own life in the process._

"_Yeah, and I could swear I can still feel some sort of headache from then...hey, I never got to thank Twilight for healing me afterwards...did I?"_

_C: -Giggles- Well you can do that afterwards if you haven't already. Anyway, you have earned the right to bear the Element of...Selflessness!_

_The same bright glow surrounds Swift as he smiles brightly and looks at his hooves._

"_Shinyshinyshinyshiny."_

C & L: Now go...and lend your friends a helping hoof...

(At the Castle Eclipse)

(BGM: Megaman 9 – Wily Stage 1)

"Ugh...where are we?" Rainbow Dash asks, coming round.

"I think we're at that same creepy castle we came to the first time..." Pinkie answers.

"I wonder where Swift and the others are?" Fluttershy wonders.

"Ah dunno...but ah definitely know who's with 'em."

"Nightmare Moon..." Rarity whispers.

"Come on, ponies. We can't waste any more time. This time, we focus. For Equestria and for our friends!"

"RIGHT!" The other ponies chorus.

(Castle Eclipse throne room)

The ponies arrive in the throne room and see Swift, Heart and Bass lying on the floor, out for the count with nopony else in sight.

Rainbow Dash's eyes immediately widen and she takes flight towards them with Nightmare Moon seemingly not there, with her friends calling out to her to stop.

She smirks as it looks like she's gonna approach them first. But her luck soon runs out as a familiar mist forms in front of her, blocking her way.

"No..." Rainbow Dash whispers with fear in her voice.

Nightmare Moon fully materialises and knocks Rainbow Dash to the ground with a shot of her magic.

"Ugh!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Her friends chorus

At that point, Swift's ear twitches slightly but is gone unnoticed.

She falls to the ground, weakened more than before from the Shadow Devil fight, struggling to get up. But before she can start to recover, Nightmare Moon picks her up using her magic and starts to put the squeeze on her, cutting off her air flow. Within a minute, Dash is unconscious. Nightmare Moon doesn't let up, though.

"Back so soon, ponies?! And here I thought you'd do the smart thing and give up! Well now look. You've forced me to resort to destroying you right here!"

The other five Elements looks on at Dash's unconscious form with tears filling up their eyes.

"You should never have tried to stop me! Now eternal night shall remain with an iron rule! And the first order of business is the death of everypony's favourite Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash! AAAAHAHAHAHA!"

"No...you won't do anything else to her!"

(BGM: Sonic Adventure – Open Your Heart -Instrumental-)

Nightmare Moon feels a strong force ramming into the her side as she lets Rainbow Dash go in the shock from the force. As Nightmare Moon quickly gathers her bearings, she sees Rainbow Dash start to fall to the ground. She goes to grab her again, but Dash is quickly caught and brought to safety by a blue blur.

Dash's eyes flutter open and at first everything's all blurry. But as her eyes focus she sees the pony who saved her from Nightmare Moon. It's Swift, who's still looking battered and bruised. He smiles warmly down at her.

"Hello, again."

"(Cough) Swift...you came back..."

"Took you a while to remember me, then? And here I thought you were quick at everything!" He jokes, chuckling a bit but he clutches his chest soon afterwards. "It hurts to laugh..."

"Get a room, you two..."

They look over at Bass who's now awake and smirking at them both and they blush intensely once again.

"Unless you want another hoof in the 'nads, zip it..."

Rainbow Dash gets up, giggling slightly at the banter in between the two. Heart then wakes up as well, holding her head and sitting up. "I didn't miss much did I?" She looks over at the blushes on both Swift's and Dash's faces and she smirks at them. "And how are the lovely couple right now?"

This only intensifies the blushes on their faces. Swift tries to pull off the most intimidating glare in the world at Heart but he only ends up looking like a complete fool.

This only floors Dash, Heart and Bass as they laugh at the blush covered helpless face of the blue pegasus.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it out you three..."

They hear a loud stomp on the floor.

"I WILL NOT BE IGNORED!"

The laughing ponies are soon silenced as they slowly turn around and look at Nightmare Moon, who is glaring at them with a murderous look in her eyes.

"YOU SILLY LITTLE PONIES! I AM NOT EASILY PUT DOWN BY THAT!"

Swift only dead-pans and retorts back. "Well it wasn't exactly supposed to kill you, daft bint! If I wanted to kill you I would have clipped off your wings and pushed you off the edge of the fucking cliff side!"

"Diane Simmons much?" Bass remarks.

"YOU WILL BE SILENT! I AM SICK AND TIRED OF YOU STUPID FOALS!"

"And Equestria's sick and tired of the constant night. Which one do you think's more important?" Swift retorts back again, which earns a Mordacai and Rigby style "OOOHHHH!" from Heart and Bass.

(BGM: Crush 40 – Live and Learn)

This pushes Nightmare Moon to her edge and she shoots a powerful magic beam at them. Heart, teleports out of the way, Bass uses his powerful leg muscles to leap right over NM and Swift grabs Dash and flies over her as well.

Fortunately Nightmare Moon doesn't notice this and when she stops and sees nopony there, she thinks she's rid of the ponies completely and laughs in absolute triumph.

"Well that's one down, and only..."

"And the survey says..."

Bass makes a buzzer noise.

"Wrong!"

Nightmare Moon whips her head round to face the four ponies, who join the rest of the elements, who embrace their friends, including the three newer ponies.

"We had a nice little chat with two very kind ponies during our little downtime..told us to give our friends a helping hand..." Swift states.

"What two very kind ponies?!" Nightmare Moon bellows.

"Oh, you should know them very well...one of them you'd know in particular...their names are Princess Luna.." Heart starts.

"WHAT?!"

"...Let us finish! The other one is Princess Celestia!" Bass finishes with a smirk on his face.

"NO!"

The three ponies start to glow white, to the shock of the Elements. The three chorus "_In times where the original six Elements won't succeed, only then will the three hidden ones reveal themselves and lend their power to the original ones._"

Glowing shards materialise above all three of them and float down towards them. Stopping at their necks, the shards come together to form 3 different necklaces (or as Swift and Bass refer to them as, "chains") around their necks. Bass's element is a dark grey and the basic shape of the bass speaker, which is a plain circle. Heart's is in the shape of, well a heart and a silver-ish colour. And Swift's is in the shape of an upside down triangle with the top slightly rounded and the sides ribbed (which is meant to replicate the tornado in a more basic shape) and is a blue-ish, greyish colour. The other six watch in awe as their elements start to glow.

"What in tarnation...?" Applejack exclaims.

"They're reacting!" Rarity states.

The rainbow belt forms around the ponies once again shining brighter than before.

"WHAT?! HOW CAN THIS BE?! YOU CAN'T BE DOING THIS!"

The rainbow belt forms into the beam above the ponies about to fire.

"Oh, and the Luna you took control of? A fake from a replication spell!" Twilight rightly boasts.

The beam fires, heading towards Nightmare Moon. "NOOOOOOOOO!" It engulfs the dark mare as she cowers and begins to break apart.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The whole room is engulfed in a giant explosion with Nightmare Moon the epicentre.

The ponies land back on the floor and cover their eyes from the bright explosion and soon the light from the explosion covers the whole of the Everfree Forest.

It is done.

Nightmare Moon is defeated for good.

_**CHAPTER END!**_

Phew! That was a doozy to write!

Pinkie: Boy, I'll say! I was so NERVOUSCITED!

That isn't a word, you've been told this already...Pinkie? Ugh, never mind...Also, probably one or two more chapters to go and THIS TIME I MEAN IT!


	19. Finale!

_**Elements Lost and Found**_

_**Chapter 19: Finale!**_

**This is it, guys! The finale! Let's get it on!**

CHAPTER START!

"...Wake up!"

"Ugh..."

"Hey, he's coming to!"

"Yeah, I can pretty much see that..."

Swift opens his eyes and everything's a blur at first. But he comes back into focus. But what he sees shocks him. He's not in the castle! In fact he's not even in Equestria. He's back on Earth, in his human form.

"What..."

Peter chuckles. "Mate, you ended up passing out after talking about some portal. I'd understand if it were like 100 degrees out here!"

Danni puts out her hand to help him up. "I was just about to call an ambulance! I didn't think you were gonna wake up!"

Adam walks up to them. "Shall we just head back to college?"

Swi-er, Lewis accepts Danni's offer to help him up and gets to his feet. It was somehow a strange feeling right now. Standing on two feet.

"I owe Danni something first..." He walks into the nearest chip shop.

Danni, Peter and Adam are confused at this. Danni in particular. "Owe me what?"

He comes back and and hands her a bag of chips. "This. Come on, let's get back to college..."

His friends look at him as he walks off in the direction of college. Adam speaks up first. "Is it me or do you think he hit his head too hard on the ground when he passed out?"

Danni nods. "Probably."

-At the college, in the cafeteria-

(BGM: Fairy Tail – Yami yo, Tsudoe!)

Lewis is sat on a table with his friends. All of them are talking amongst each other while he's deep in thought himself.

_"Seriously...I do not know whether that was actually a dream or not...this is just so weird...it looked more like a flashback...or some shit like that..."_

His friends around the table then start to listen to Foo Fighters, talking about favourite songs by them and Nirvana, which Lewis would happily join in with would he not have this niggling at his mind at the moment.

He then starts to hold his head as memories of the "dream" flash through his mind, as well as the supposed "flashbacks" from the dream. From the moment they arrived there, to the final moments at the castle eclipse.

_"What the hell...the last thing that happened...that big boom...everything went white...then I woke back up at Meadowhead...wait a minute...then...did I get knocked unconscious and this is just..."_

"Lewis?"

He jolts his head up to see his friend Will looking at him on concern. "You alright? You loked like you were clutching your head. Have you got some kind of headache?"

Danni nods and adds. "Will, I think he's still coming around. I mean he did end up hitting his head on the ground when he passed out and he's probably still feeling a bit out from it."

"Fair point. I didn't see what happened but it sounded like it hurt."

Lewis jolts his head up. "Guys can you just...stop, please? My head is fine. I'M fine. I'm just thinking about something...sorry..."

He gets up, picks up his bag and walks off, head hanging low, fringe covering his eyes from normal view.

(BGM: Fairy Tail – Inishie No Mahou)

_"As of right now I am so fucking clueless...I'm not sure what's going on right now...but this still doesn't feel right..."_

_That's because it isn't..._

"_No way...Princess Celestia?"_

_Swift, you made your choice to return to your original birthplace of Equestria. Your friends have already experienced this._

"So this IS a dream? Because Peter and Danni in there looked fine as well..."

…

"_Princess Celestia?"_

…

"_Anyone there?!"_

…_..._

"_Ugh...this...is...so...CONFUSING!"_

By the time that little episode is over he's back at his lecture room, waiting to be let back in. He lays his bag on the floor, sits down with his back against the wall and just thinks.

What's going on right now?

Why doesn't this feel right?

Why am I asking YOU all these questions?!

Anyway, he then tries to close his eyes and think even more when he hears something.

_Swift..._

This shocks him as the voice is all too familiar

"_Rainbow Dash...?"_

_Come on, Blue...I don't wanna lose you again...please wake up..._

"_Oh, dammit...how do I wake up...?"_

_Swift...please..._

"_What the fuck do you think I'm trying to do?!...Can she not hear me?...Have the others woken up?...Shit, does she think I'm..."_

He snaps and jumps up from his "seat".

"IF THIS IS A DREAM, JUST GIVE ME A HAND -ER HOOF AND LET ME WAKE UP ALREADY! PLEASE! I WANT TO WAKE UP! I WANT TO GO BACK! MY FRIENDS THINK I'M DEAD AND RIGHT NOW I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"

"You already are..."

"Huh?"

He looks behind him and what looks like a woman with dark hair, a long navy blue dress and eye shader...make up...stuff...you know...

"Are you..."

"Yes. Princess Luna...or what I would look like in this world anyway."

They both share a light chuckle before Luna continues.

"I'm here to tell you that you are waking up. On the outside you look like you are fidgeting and mumbling."

"Wait...so they know I'm not dead?"

Luna nods.

His eyes widen. "They probably think I'm having some sort of nightmare!"

Luna nods. "It probably does seem like that from the outside yes..."

"It kind of feels like that here now..." He says with a sigh.

Luna tilts her head. "Oh? How so?"

"Because here I am, in some sort of dream world that resembles the world I ended up in after some sort of magic screw up or something like that, while I can hear Rainbow Dash most likely crying over me, thinking I'm never gonna wake up again! I know all them years ago and more recently probably a day ago, I told her that there was nothing wrong with it...but to be perfectly honest...I hate hearing her cry..." He starts to tear up himself. "She was always the stronger one of our friend group as foals...never letting anything get to her, never letting anything get to her, or letting sadness show...always standing up to bullies on behalf of her friends...and...and now she's crying because of me and my body's absolute laziness and inability to just wake the fuck up and let her know that I'm okay!"

All is quiet for a few seconds then Luna breaks the silence. "...Does it hurt?"

He takes a moment keep in a few sobs and wipes his eyes, then nods. "...Yeah."

_Is...is he crying?_

This makes his eyes widen. "Don't tell me..."

Luna sighs and nods. "Yes you're shedding tears on the outside as well as right here."

_I haven't seen him cry any tears since...wait, can he hear me?! Swift! Swift, wake up!_

The world around him distorts and to him it feels like he's floating around. And then everything goes white.

-Back in Equestria, outside the Castle-

"Uhh..."

Swift fidgets and mumbles, his eyes fluttering open.

At first, everything is a giant blur. But the more he starts to focus, the first thing he sees is Rainbow Dash right in front of his face, which startles him at first, then he realises it's actually her and calms down a bit.

"H-hey, there, sleeping beauty. Finally decided to join us again, eh?"

He laughs and smirks. "Yeah, you could say that, yeah...still night time, eh?"

She laughs. "Yup! Still night!"

He gets up and stretches. "Just to check...we DID win, right?"

Twilight shouts from near the bridge. "Yep! I guess it's taking a little bit longer to come up. After all, last time it knocked us unconscious, we have no idea how long we were out for!"

"And as I remember, it caused my tail to grow back quite nicely...I guess that's why it caused your bruises to heal and your mane to not be so...messy." Rarity comments.

Swift checks himself over. "Oh...thought I'd wake up with a massive bed-head after that. Then again it explains why everypony looks all squeaky clean -Squee-"

Everypony chuckles at this, then Bass who's looking out into the horizen, yells out "Sunrise, ho!"

(BGM: Sonic Unleashed – Cutscene: Rekindled Light – Save the Speech)

Everypony then joins him and watches the sunrise. Slowly but surely, the sun rises up as everypony covers their eyes at first, due to the fact they haven't had proper sunlight for three weeks. But then the skies start to get bluer, the hills start to get brighter, and sound of birds chirping starts to fill the air.

Fluttershy brightens up from the sound. "Oh, how I've missed that sound..."

Applejack agrees with her. "We all have, Sugarcube. It's been so long."

Heart nods. "I think my eyes agree with that." This makes everypony chuckle.

"Wheeeee! Sun! Sun! Sun! Sun! Sun! Sun! Sun!" Pinkie chants while bouncing around.

Rainbow Dash chuckles while looking at the sun. "Pinkie, calm down! Hehe. Somepony's gonna get-"

CRASH!

"Too late...Ow..."

"Oops! Hehe. Sorry, Swift!"

"Owchie..."

Bass and Heart chorus "Yup. He's fine."

Rainbow Dash then gets a devillish grin on her face, one that Swift widens his eyes at. "What..."

He briefly remembers the last few times Rainbow Dash used that very grin, years ago. The last one being the day before he and the other two disappeared.

He then remembers what came after the grin.

"No..."

She then pounces on him, tickling him mercilessly.

"Hahahahah! S-stahp!"

"You still didn't admit I was faster than you last time! You only got off lucky because it was time to go home!"

"Hahahaha! I WILL NOT SUBMIT!"

"Oh really?"

"Really!"

"Not even if I do this?!"

"Oh, god no!"

She then adds the use of her wings to tickle him. "Hahaaa! Will you submit now, feeble one?!"

Swift now has tears streaming with laughter. "S-s-still no! I will never surrender to you!"

This goes on for a few more minutes before Swift notices something. "Hang on, hang on, hang on..." Dash stops before Swift looks at her face. "Have...have you been crying?"

"...N...No!"

"Those are tear stains...you weren't crying over me when I was out, were you...?"

"...Fine. I have been doing a little crying..." She lets go of him and walks away, sitting down again.

"I heard you..._ "Come on, Blue...I don't wanna lose you again...please wake up..."..._That was you, right?"

"...Yeah...but..."

"I told you, there isn't anything wrong with it."

"But...I thought you weren't gonna wake up!"

"You...thought I wasn't gonna wake up?"

"It's been like two hours since we finished off Nightmare Moon...that explosion knocked you out...I thought you were gonna be knocked into a coma...and...I..." She tears up again...

"...And what?"

She tackle hugs him to the ground.

"I couldn't bear to lose you like that again!" She yells, crying softly into his shoulder.

"..."

"I knew something was missing...all these years...It just took me till when you and your friends came blazing in to realise it was you all along..."

Swift sighs and lifts Rainbow's head off his shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. "I'm not going anywhere now, though, am I?"

She smiles lightly and shakes her head.

"And we're gonna be catching up on things in the near future, aren't we?"

She smiles wider and nods.

"...And my shoulder's wet from them tears now, aren't they?"

She snickers and nods again.

"And I suppose when me, Heart and Bass came roaring into Canterlot, charging right towards that big blobby monster we were pretty craz-mmph!"

Everypony's eyes widen considerably in shock at that point as Rainbow Dash presses her lips to Swift's. His eyes widen especially as he squirms for a few seconds, but soon closes his eyes and relaxes, letting the kiss happen.

"Woah, Nelly..." AJ muses.

"Seems she really felt something for this colt..." Rarity says to the other watching ponies quietly.

"Yeah...and she calls US sappy sometimes..." Twilight states while smirking.

Bass leans over to Heart. "Hey, Danni. Check it out. Our little Lewis's first kiss!" He whispers while snickering.

"About time as well! I was beginning to think he'd never get one!" She whispers back while snickering.

After about 20 seconds, Dash breaks the kiss and sees Swift violently blushing. She snickers at the sight. "Hey...Hey, Red. You can open your eyes now!"

He does so and just lies there, staring.

"Uhhh, Swift?" She calls out, waving her hoof in front of her face. Then she notices that his face is starting to glow a bright pink, which makes her snicker.

"Wow. Your face is priceless!"

He doesn't say anything back and just continues staring, his face getting darker and darker.

"Uhhhh, Swift?"

He doesn't answer.

"I think I broke him." She states with a giggle.

At that point, he breathes and slaps himself across the face. "O...W..Woah..." He takes a few deep breaths before looking at her. "Is that why you were always acting jealous whenever I was always talking to another filly all them years ago?!"

"What are you talking about? I don't get jealous!"

"One word: Flitter."

"I thought she was gonna hit you!"

"She was offering a hoof bump..."

"Oh..."

Swift chuckles and ruffles Dash's mane. "We can all end up making mistakes like that. I mean Flitter forgave you, right?"

"Yeah, I know..."

"And Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get off me now? Pwease?"

"Oh...o-okay." She says with a slight hint of disappointment.

Swift then feels for his element. "Just noticed my chain's not here anymore! Where's it gone?"

Twilight speaks up. "When they say hidden, I think it's fair to say they mean it. They only make themselves known in times of need, in other words, when ours aren't effective."

"Oh, so it works in a way that if the original six elements are working just fine, the hidden ones have no need to be there at all?"

"That's how it generally works, yes." An all too familiar voice says. Just as that's said, both Princesses appear near the rest of the mane six.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!"

All the ponies there bow before them, save for Twilight who goes to hug her mentor.

"I trust all is well here?" Princess Celestia asks them.

"All of us here are doing fine now. Equestria's back to normal and so are we!" Twilight confirms.

"We are glad to hear that. So we may as well ask...if you're staying here...have you thought about where you're going to live?" Luna asks them.

"...On that subject, I'm absolutely stumped..." Swift dead-pans.

"To be honest, the only thing we've been thinking about these past few days is taking down Nightmare Moon. Never thought past that, no..." Bass admits.

"Are there any nice hotels in Canterlot or Manehatten?" Heart hopefully asks.

"Heart, Canterlot's probably gonna have to have a few buildings be rebuilt, due to Shadow Devil shooting up the place. As for Manehatten, didn't you check while were there?" Swift asks.

"To be quite fair, Swift, we've been hiding out underground during the majority of our time in Manehatten. And that time we DID go to the club, I saw nothing about any hotels so...yeah." Heart retorts.

"Ah, we didn't explore the whole of the city though, did we?...Have I just beaten myself in an argument...?"

Bass laughs. "I didn't think that was even possible!"

Twilight steps forward. "Actually last time I checked, there was this one house in Ponyville that was quite large. That was before the incident, of course."

"How long before?"

"A day."

"Ah. But how are we gonna pay for that big house? My wallet's back at the library and let's face it the money in there isn't gonna be worth anything is it?"

"We could give you the needed bits." Princess Celestia offers.

"...You serious?" Swift asks.

"Equestria wouldn't be back to normal right now if it wasn't for you three. You are greatly deserving of this reward. Please don't be afraid to take it. You've earned it." Princess Luna says with a smile.

Heart and Bass walk to either side of Swift and all three of them bow to the princesses with smiles on their faces. "From the three of us, thank you both." Swift says with a smile.

Heart nods. "This is a really nice welcome back for us."

Princess Celestia smirks. "Well we're not done with that yet."

They look at her with tilted heads. "What?"

"Before Nightmare Moon attacked we were preparing for the Grand Galloping Gala. But because of what happened, we're going to have to push back the date. But as further thanks for helping the Elements snap out of their corrupted states and save Equestria, here are 3 tickets to the event." Princess Luna gets out three tickets to the event and passes them to the three now awestruck ponies in front of her.

Swift is the first to react. "You...really mean it?"

Princess Celestia nods. "You are certainly deserving of them."

"A new house AND tickets to the most anticipated party in Equestria..." Swift trails off...

"Oh, it's good to be back!" Bass casually states.

"So wait a minute...it's usually mares that get excited for that! It's a little weird seeing you two excited for the Grand Galloping Gala..." Rainbow Dash says with curiosity etched on her face along with the rest of the mane six nodding in agreement.

Swift smirks and turns to face them. "Dash. Night out in a big palace with your friends! No way are we missing out on that!"

Bass nods. "Well said, Swifty mah boi!" And with that they both brohoof.

Heart chuckles. "So when is the new date for the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"I'd say...around the beginning of winter."

All nine ponies widen their eyes. "The beginning of winter?!" They chorus.

"The gala takes a lot of planning but because of the Nightmare Moon incident, all that planning went out of the window. So we have to get to work planning the gala all over again! Don't worry though. It gives you time to get settled into your new home, reacquaint yourselves with everypony here and so on!"

Princess Luna nods. "And I think the first priority...is to let your parents know that you're all safe."

"Parents?!"

Both princess nod.

Swift sighs and turns to the other two. " I suppose it makes sense. If we're safe, they'll be the first that want to know...wait a second...how will they remember us? You wiped their memories of us!"

"As soon as your elements activated, any traces of you that was previously wiped, including memories, was returned." Princess Celestia answers with the smile not leaving her face.

"Does that also include any drawings that I might have done as a foal?" Swift asks.

"You did drawings?" Dash snickers.

"I got bored while you were away in Fillydelphia..." Swift states while deadpanning.

"What about the others?"

"Well everypony else was busy that same week except for a certain Beat Thunderwing who was in bed riddled with the flu the whole week."

"Oh yeah! Hehe. He was such a mess when I got back it was hilarious!"

"Well he didn't think so!" He chuckles.

"Speaking of, how's he been since...you know?"

"Well since he didn't remember you he's been...I dunno. Though since he now probably remembers you he's probably trying to hunt you down." She says.

Swift's eyes widen. "Oh, mother..."

"Oh mother is right!" Says a voice out of nowhere.

Swift looks around searching for that voice.

"Yaaaaaahhh!"

Swift looks up and sees a red pegasus with a mane similar to a certain unicorn DJ and headphones for a cutie mark swooping down at him. Swift jumps back and the pegasus makes a quick landing where Swift stood.

(BGM: Jet Set Radio – Moody's Shuffle)

Looking at him now, he also has shades that are also similar to the DJ. Swift knows who this is.

"What the hell, Beat?! I come back after an extended holiday to another dimension that wasn't my fault and this is my welcome?!"

"Just makin' sure that you get the proper greeting you deserve, dude! Come on, lighten up!"

"You tell me to lighten up after nearly scaring the living crap out of me by looking like a frigging dragon, swooping down at me while our eyes are still getting used to the day! Thanks a bloody lot!"

They clash heads.

"By the way, Swift, we still didn't settle that race we had before you disappeared! Me and you, Canterlot and back, right now!"

(snort) "Sorry, but in that subject me and Rainbow Dash still have a score to settle!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Well what if I told you that I also have a score to settle with Rainbow Dash?!"

"Then I'd say "Jog on and wait your turn because screw you that's why!"'

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

(BGM Switch: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon – Explorers of Sky – Guildmaster Wigglytuff)

They suddenly stop, separate their heads and look at each other, before breaking into a laughing fit, confusing everypony there, and surprisingly amusing the royal sisters.

Swift tries talking in the middle of it all. "Oh...oh my sides...that was one beautiful entrance..."

Beat also tries taking a break to reply. "N-not as beautiful as your reaction, Swift."

They takes a breather to calm down and a minute later, they find everypony staring at them with a mixture of expressions on their faces.

Beat whispers to Swift. "Yet another set of ponies who aren't amused by our double act..."

Swift shrugs and replies. "Eh. Tough crowd."

Rarity sidles up to Dash and whispers. "Did they always act like this?"

Fluttershy nods and whispers. "They're practically brothers. When his older sister Gale left for Los Pegasus when he was kinda young, he felt lonely for some reason. He still had me, Dash and some of the others but still to him it didn't feel the same without his sister being there. But Beat...when Beat came along that loneliness went away."

"How so?" Pinkie asks.

Dash takes over from there. "Beat was a lost foal. He wandered into our neighbourhood randomly one day, all sad and stuff. Swift found him first, though, crying in an alleyway. When he asked what happened, Beat told him that his parents had just...gone...his house was wrecked...and all that was left was a note...they went back to Swift's house and because Beat was homeless, his parents adopted him. They treated him like one of their own. And them two have definitely got the sibling rivalry thing going on right now."

They look over and see Swift and Beat, headlocked and trying to overpower the other...which they eventually give up on and collapse to the floor.

"I had that easily..." Swift goads.

"No I did..." Beat retorts.

Swift grins. "Tell you what, I'm surprised you didn't end up picking up Mum's Manechester accent..."

"I like my own accent, thank you very much!" he puffs out his chest.

Swift rolls his eyes. "Alright then, DJ Popeye..."

Heart looks between Bass and Beat... "Another one...?!"

Beat looks at Bass with a smirk. "You're an aspiring artist too?"

Bass smirks back. "Well I don't like to brag but I know my way."

At that point Celestia decides enough's enough and clears her throat, gathering everypony's attention.

(BGM: Fairy Tail - Yousei no Shippo)

"So it's agreed. You three are staying here permanently." The three certain ponies nod their heads. "So later on, we'll go to the Mayor's office, that's assuming she'll go be back there...who knows where she might be?"

Beat raises a hoof. "Actually I flew over Ponyville on my way here. I saw ponies swarming the place as the sun was coming up. And I definitely saw the mayor rejoicing outside the office."

Celestia smiles. "Then it's settled. In the next few days when everything's settled down and normal again, we'll get the house prepared for you."

Luna nods. "In the meantime we'll give you a choice of staying with one of the ponies here until then. If it isn't too much trouble of course..."

Rarity speaks up. "As much as I'd love to, I need to get all my business back up and running after this incident."

"Same could be said for Sweet Apple Acres. Sorry." Applejack says with a sheepish grin.

"Same here. Sorry, guys." Pinkie apologises.

Celestia turns to the three remaining ones. "And you three?"

Fluttershy is the first. "Well I don't mind one of them staying..."

"It'll only be for a day." The princess of the sun adds.

Twilight sighs. "One more night's not gonna do any harm is it?"

Rainbow rolls her eyes. "Cheer up, Twilight, everything's back to normal now. Don't go complaining about something like that just as things go back to the way they were."

"I hope my animal friends have been safe through all this..."

"Well Angel's still in Manehatten with Opal and Winona...wait what about Gummy?" Dash asks.

"Gummy's been with me all this time...Don't know how he's been able to put up with me all this time though..." Pinkie says while her ears flatten.

Swift stretches his wings. "Can we get out of Everfree Forest now? Even though it's broad daylight right now, this place is creeping me out."

(Location: Ponyville)

The group of ponies appear in Ponyville, including Celestia and Luna. And right at that moment,

Ponyville's residents swarm the place that they appeared: right outside the library., shouting in glee.

"We're safe!"

"We have daylight again!"

"No more hiding!"

"Has anypony seen my cat?"

"On your back, asleep."

"Oh, thanks!"

Swift, Bass and Heart, who aren't used to this much attention from a whole town, are incredibly flustered and for some reason very very nervous. Dragons? No problem. Nightmare Moon? Piss easy. A whole town of ponies crowding around you? To sum up the thoughts in the three ponies' heads: _"Fuuuuuuuu-!"_

But thankfully, Celestia speaks up for them. "My little ponies, from today onwards, the nightmare that has plagued you all for 3 weeks running is no more!"

The ponies there then cheer their heads off, making the ponies behind Celestia and Luna flinch. Swift and Bass whispers among each other.

"Never seen this much cheering before."

"Man City winning last year's Premier League?"

"I meant up close...though that win quite rightly placed itself in Football history..."

Luna clears her throat. "From now on, the day and night cycle will run once again! No more will Equestria have to suffer, or hide, or cower in fear! You may get on with your lives once more!"

The ponies cheer loudly again, making Swift, Heart and Bass's ears all flatten.

"Argh...dammit...the element beam knows how to cure wounds but not how to cure a headache...I'm gonna need some Paracetamol after we've finished here..."

Bass nods his head and clutches his own. "I think I'm gonna lay off the music today..."

Once the crows quietens down, Celestia speaks once more. "The brave efforts of the Elements of Harmony finally bested the tyrannical Nightmare Moon and claimed back Equestria for our own again! But they weren't alone. Before, they were corrupted by Nightmare Moon. She tried to use them as her personal soldiers. But then, three ponies who were thought lost to this world, returned unto us and helped them see their true ways again! Helped them grasp back their true forms! Without them, none of you would be standing right here. A brave trio. Treble Bass, Heart Container and Swift Wind!"

The ponies stomp their hooves to show their appreciation to the ponies standing before them. But then something weird happens. The ponies start chanting "Speech! Speech! Speech!", startling the trio, who then start to argue amongst themselves.

"I'm not going up there, you can!" Swift exclaims to Bass.

Bass smirks and retorts. "Who was the one who assumed leadership at the start of this without mine and Heart's permission?" This makes Swift grunt and take a step back.

"I didn't see you having any problems with that though!...Uh, fine, but you owe me!"

He steps up to the front and looks at everypony, sweating. All different ponies looking at him. Lyra, Bon Bon, Cloudchaser, Flitter, Snowflake, loads!

"Um..."

Everypony tilts their head at him, while Swift himself looks back at his friends for any sign of support, to which he got zero.

_"Thanks, guys...I knew I could count on you...(!)"_

He faces forward, looking at all the other ponies that are staring at him. He then takes a big gulp, then finally speaks.

"You'll have to forgive me if I'm not very talkative or such, because...well this sort of thing I'm not used to. Talking right in front of a whole crowd...So...yeah. Ahem. Of course when me and my friends first arrived here we were all confused. We weren't like this before han-er hoof! We only had hair at the top of our heads...well showing anyway..." This makes Bass and Heart snicker. "We stood up on two legs...like so..." He stands up on both his hind legs, using his wings to help him keep balance. "We used our other two free limbs to carry stuff we were taking with us...we were basically like hairless monkeys."

This makes the whole of the town burst out laughing, including the six elements and the princesses. This takes Swift, Bass and Heart by surprise. But Swift then deadpans then sits his rump on the floor, patiently waiting for them to finish laughing. Soon enough, like 5 minutes later, they do calm down and Swift continues.

"Never was a brilliant public speaker...don't even know what was funny...anyway, we had our up moments and our down moments. We laughed...we cried...old friends reunited..." He looks back at Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Beat, who smile proudly back at him, shy behind the mane and give him a friendly salute, respectively. "...New friends were made...challenges and obstacles were faced...and they were overcome...why? Because we faced those challenges together." He smiles. "As it should be done. Nopony should have to ever be alone. And as long as you have friends...as long as you have somepony to turn to. You will never, ever, truly be alone...Going back to what I was saying earlier about being confused, what confused me the most was how I was able to fly, Heart was able to use magic spells and Bass...well Bass pretty much levelled 10 trees in a single buck like at a bowling alley!"

Applejack leans over to Bass with a smirk. "If ah hire you to help me clear some apple trees of their apples, you'll have ta...ya know, hold back with your bucks."

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks." He replies with a nod and a smile.

"Then we found out we came from here. Were we surprised? Pretty much. But on that note, it's good to be back!. Don't know about these two, though...anything to say, you two?...Thought not...I'll end my rambling here and now. Thanks for putting up with that." He nods as the ponies stomp their hooves again in applause.

Princess Celestia turns to the rest of the crowd. "That is all for now, ponies of Ponyville. I'll leave you to your days!"

-Later-

Swift is sitting in Sugarcube Corner, munching on a few chocolate muffins when his old friend Beat walks in and up to him. Swift turns around. "Alright, Beat? Muffin?"

Beat shakes his head. "No thanks. I can get my own, I'm not broke or anything.." He replies with snicker.

"I never said you were, I was just offering!" Swift retorts, wondering where that came from.

Beat snickers. "What, in a bakery? Where they sell muffins? Hehe. Nah, thanks for the offer but I can get my own."

They both share a laugh and start talking over a few muffins, catching up with each other.

"...And so as soon as I'd almost finished putting the last of the decorations up and was going to put that very last safety pin up, just as I was finally getting the concentration for it, I heard the door, which startled me, and I ended up cutting myself and dropping the pin! It was a small cut but it really fucking stung...!"

"Ouch, dude! Did you find that pin and finish in the end?"

"Yeah, after stepping on it after like 3 times and sending it flying to different places..." Swift retorts, grimacing.

"Geez, I bet that was really painful..." Beat remarks.

"Gee ya think? Had to have a huge bucket of ice to help ease the pain! Anyway, as I got the door, my friend who was there, asked 'Where the hell did you get them cuts?!' and I was there, like 'Call it your bad fucking timing..' and then he did a massive grin and was like 'Merry Christmas!'"

This floors Beat and he laughs really hard at that last story, to which Swift pouts at. "It wasn't funny! It hurt for like a week..."

Beat manages to calm himself down and pulls himself up off the floor. "Sorry, man. Hehe. Hey, you ever catch somepony-er somebody's eye during your stay in that other world?"

Swift then shuffles, albiet uncomfortably in his seat at the choice of subject change. "No."

Beat shrugs. "Meh, I was just wondering. Now that I remember everything, I really feel bad for Rainbow Dash."

Swift raises an eyebrow. "Hm? Why's that?"

At that point Beat does his own little seat shuffle. "Uh...when we were foals, she came to me to ask for help."

Swift tilts his head. "Help for what?"

Beat pauses. "...She wanted my help to ask somepony out."

This really catches Swift's attention. "Oh really?"

Beat nods. "She was actually really nervous about it as well! And I was really surprised! Rainbow's usually one of those mares who likes to take a challenge head on and think about the consequences later. But she actually asked me for help on this and I didn't know what to say. So I said "Just walk or fly right up to him and say hello. Then come right out with it. This colt is your friend, so even if he turns you down, it's not like he's gonna hate you for asking him, is he? You and him are good friends so should he say no, you'll still be close to each other through friendship."

"Wow. Deep."

"I know right?" He sighs before continuing. "So that night I stayed over to help her practise asking the question and we told a few funny yet scary stories to help cheer her up. And then the next morning, we left her house and I told her I'd stay right where I was and wait for the answer. She then told me to wish her luck, which I did, then she flew off all excited. But then like half an hour later, I suddenly had this feeling at the pit of my stomach that."

"What kind of feeling?"

"I'll get to that in a minute. Anyway, 10 minutes after I got that feeling, Rainbow Dash came back to where I was. And for a reason, one which I couldn't work out back then but I kind of remember now, she had a sort of...lost look in her eyes."

"Lost look?"

"Yeah...not only that...like one of longing...like something was missing..."

Swift at that point starts to piece together what he was getting at. But he continues on. "Did he turn her down?"

"No."

"Oh."

At that point, Beat looks back up at the blue pegasus and raises his shades. "He went missing. See what I'm getting at here, Swift?"

His eyes widen and his heart starts to pound, as well as a bright blush creeping on his face. "This...this better not be a fucking lie."

"It isn't a lie, Swift. It's the truth. And for the years that went by, I had to see her looking oh, so distant every once in a while, trying to figure something out! You wanna know something else? She was having dreams of those missing memories, Swift Wind. The memories of you and her having really fun times together. She was wondering who that colt was for all those years you were away! She was wondering why it was always that very same colt! She couldn't figure out for the life of her why this colt was so important, so significant, that she kept dreaming about him!"

All is silent for Swift as he just sits there, wide eyed.

"Has she made any sort of moves on you?"

"Huh?"

"Since you got back. Any sort of moves, whatsoever?"

"Well that was that time earlier. Just before you arrived outside the castle. She went on about how she didn't want to lose me again...she was crying over me while I was unconscious...and when I was finally awake and kicking again, she tackled me to the ground, was tickling me for apparently not admitting she was the faster of us both. Then after I noticed that she'd been crying..."

Beat notions him to go on.

"She kissed me on the lips, unexpectedly." He finishes with a blush.

"She did?" Swift nods, sighing. "Wait...when I got there, you weren't close or anything. I didn't see anything to do with affection between either of you...you didn't turn her down did you?"

Swift sweats. "I...I just thought she was relieving some stress from the whole Nightmare Moon ordeal...I didn't say no...I just asked her to get off me, _politely, _might I add, and I didn't give her a definite answer! Not a yes, nor a no! I did some sort of teasing before asking her to get off, asking her if that was why she usually got jealous of me hanging with other fillies when we were foals, like when she ended up punching Flitter in the face! Course she said that she thought she was gonna hurt me, when all Flitter was doing was offering a hoof bump. But anyway-"

"You idiot!" Beat suddenly bursts out, which makes Swift flinch with wide eyes. "After all these years she finally sees you again, she manages to finally kiss you which is something she's been waiting since foalhood to do, and what do you end up doing?! You brush it off as "relieving stress!" I...I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed with you I am right now!"

He stops as he sees Swift sat there, head hung down with tears in his eyes. Beat then sighs. "Sorry, Swift...you didn't know..."

"Beat...am I a terrible pony?" Swift asks, looking up at his friend with pleading eyes.

"No Swift, you're not. You just made a stupid mistake, that's all. It happens. Swift."

Swift looks up at his friend.

"Do you like her?"

"H-huh?"

"Do you like her? In that way?"

"I...I..."

"Be honest here! Or I'm gonna fetch Applejack!"

Swift thinks about it before coming to a realisation.

"Yes. Yes I do..."

"Then go. Last time I checked she was on a cloud right above Ponyville, looking out to the horizon. She looked kinda down. If you can't get the courage to tell her how you feel, the least you can do is cheer her up and put a smile back on her face. You owe her that much, Swift."

Swift looks up, gets up then turns around to the door with his head held high...only to bump into it face first. "...Ow."

"You alright, dude?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

With what dignity he has left, he opens the door and walks out of Sugarcube Corner, beat looking on with a smile. "Go get 'er, Swift.."

-Location, high above Ponyville-

Rainbow is lied down on a cloud, curled up and looking outwards into the sky as far as the eye can see. Although right now, her eyes are feeling a little...wet. Yup. She's been crying again.

"_All those years ago...was I just delusional? Was I wrong to think that Swift actually might have had a thing for me? That if I asked him out, or tried to push the boundaries between close friends and more than that, he'd respond positively? That he'd return what I felt...? What a stupid filly I was...Beat, you lied...he's trying to avoid me now...-sniff-..."_

At that point, she lies her face into her forelegs and starts letting out a few quiet sobs, not wanting anypony else to hear her. But at that moment, she feels somepony else land on the same cloud as her. And then she feels a foreleg wrap around her back. And after that, she hears him. That voice.

"Hey, Rainbow. Beat told me I'd find you here."

Rainbow lifts up her head and looks back at the pony who said that. Swift.

"-sniff- Hey."

"You haven't been crying, have you?"

"M-me? Heck no! Why would I be crying?"

"Dash, you're not even trying to look convincing anymore..."

Rainbow sighs. "You got me..."

"...I know, Rainbow. The whole reason you're here..."

Her eyes widen. "Y...you do?"

He nods. "It's because of me isn't it?"

Rainbow doesn't say anything, just looks back outwards across the sky.

All is silent and the only thing heard is a slight breeze and birds chirping. That is until Swift breaks the silence.

"You know we never really settled it, did we?"

"Huh?"

"Our race. We've not had chance. Not until now. Daytime, clear skies, well apart from this cloud anyway..."

Rainbow giggles slightly. "I hijacked this cloud from above the Everfree Forest..."

"Oh yeah because the weather there controls itself..." He chuckles. "So about it?"

Rainbow wipes the tears from her face then stands up. "You're on!"

-2 minutes later-

Swift and Rainbow are lines up at a random place, using nothing but a drawn line for them to start on.

Rainbow speaks up. "Alright! Straight to the Everfree Forest, flying above it of course, then we turn around when we get to that ancient castle! Remember this cloud as this is where we finish back at!"

"...Alright, fine!"

"On the count to three! One! Two!..." But Rainbow tricks him and sets off before the last number, getting an early lead and head start.

(BGM: Fairy Tail – Salamander)

Swift shakes his head from the sudden force of Rainbow's start, and only then does he realise that he was cheated.

"Hey! That wasn't fair!" He takes off at a high speed to catch Rainbow Dash up.

Soon, Rainbow looks back to see Swift catching up to her with an unamused look on his face. Rainbow can't help but laugh at this. "Haha! What's wrong? Feeling left in the dust?"

Swift raises his eyebrow and grins. He pulls forward and is soon next to Rainbow. "Not really, Rainbow. Oh by the way!"

"What?"

"Eat mine!" he bolts ahead, entering Everfree airspace, Rainbow soon following suit. As they reach the halfway point , Swift slows down to turn right round. But Rainbow, having more experience in flight due to Swift's absence, pulls a sharper turn, regaining her own lead. Swift's eyes widen. "Dammit...I'm gonna have to speed up a bit more...no doubt Rainbow's got the same idea as me..."

As they start their return back to the cloud, Swift and Rainbow soon get neck and neck, neither one letting up as they spot the cloud. But then a familiar feeling washes over both pegasi. The mach cone is forming around both of them. At this they both grin wider, the wind passing through their manes as they stretch the massive wall of air trying to restrict them. They both break through the barrier, and their respective waves start to push outwards. But because they were so close together, they end up merging together to create one great big rainboom, which to any passerby would look simply incredible.

As for the ponies themselves, they're still neck and neck, one trying to overtake the other. As they get closer and closer to the finishing cloud, they fail to realise...they they're getting closer and closer to each other. As if by dumb luck, Rainbow Dash ends up bumping into Swift, making him start to lose control at the sudden contact. Rainbow Dash, suddenly not caring about the race any more and caring more about her fellow pony's well being, grabs his left hoof with her own, keeping him up in the air. But this only makes Rainbow lose control herself.

Both ponies spiralling out of control, the sudden softness of their finishing cloud meets the both of them, the impact pushing it quite a bit across the sky.

As both pegasi recover from the impact on the cloud, they both suddenly realise the position they'd landed in. Swift is lying on his back, facing upwards, while it appears Rainbow Dash is lying right on top of him. They both look at each other with wide eyes and bright blushes on their faces.

All is silent for a few minutes then Swift decides to break the ice...again. "I'd say...that was a draw..."

Swift's attempted at staying casual, even right at this moment, makes Rainbow Dash giggle a bit. This sends Swift into a fit of laughter as well and soon they're both crying with laughter.

A few minutes later, when they calm down, they're both sent into silence again. Soon, Swift's brown eyes drift and end up meeting Rainbow's own cerise irises, and they stay like that for a minute, until Rainbow sighs.

"Look, Swift, I'm really sorry about the way I acted earlier...I wasn't thinking straight and-"

She's interrupted however as Swift's front hooves are brought up to her face, holding her cheeks. This makes Rainbow stare in wonder as she sees Swift looking back up at her, a blush on his face, paired with a smile.

"Rainbow, I was the stupid one. You did that earlier because you cared a whole lot about me. And to tell you the truth...I...kind of feel the same way..." he finishes as his blush darkens deeply.

Rainbow looks back at him with a wide smile on her face and tears starting to stream down her face. But she knows these aren't tears of pain, these are tears of joy and relief. So she lowers her face down to his and gently plants her warm lips to his, which Swift returns as she feels him kissing back, and she tastes what seems to be...chocolate? She doesn't complain though as the carries on the kiss. Meanwhile, according to Swift, her lips are warm, yet they taste like fresh water on a summer's day. He tastes it. And it tastes nice. Eventually, they break it off, blushing at each other.

"I'm sorry about acting like a complete idiot earlier, Rainbow Dash. I should have been a little wiser to that. I'm an idiot."

"You're not just an idiot, Blue. You're MY idiot. Swift?"

"Yeah, Rainbow?"

"Would you...like to be my..."

"Hm?"

"...Very...special somepony?"

Swift then widen his eyes a bit. Then he smiles widely. "Yes. I will."

She smiles even wider. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She hugs him tightly.

Swift chuckles. "No, Dash. Thank you. For giving me a second chance after messing up the first time."

"You didn't mess up. You just didn't know..."

At that moment, she gets off him and lies down next to him. They then snuggle up with each other. And as they watch the sunset, on the first day in three weeks, they start to become drowsy, and as the sun disappears over the horizon and is replaced by Luna's moon, they both fall asleep, peacefully, with smiles adorning both their faces, and in each other's embrace, with Rainbow nuzzling her coltfriend in her sleep and sighing in content.

**THE END**

I think I overdid it with the cheesiness and the romance and shit at the end. But then again, I don't really care.

I might have a sequel planned, where the trio adjust fully to life in Equestria fully, as well as going further into the pasts of Heart and Bass.

I can't believe that I finally finished it. Oh well. To those who read this and are also following my Pokemon fanfic, PMD: The Return, that'll get updates soon. Don't worry. And it's gonna be epic.

Till then, toodles!


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